Mercenary Hearts
by WarlordFil
Summary: There are only two unattached Sangheili on Earth: Kya, a jaded nurse who wants a child and Piro, a retired warrior who wishes to dream of what he's lost. What future is there for two such mercenary hearts? Male x Female Relationship. Complete.
1. Chapter 1: One Way Ride

**Summary: **There are only two unattached Sangheili on Earth: a jaded nurse who wants a child and a retired warrior who wishes to dream of what he's lost. What future is there for two such mercenary hearts?

**Author's Note: **At long last, I have a version of this story that I'm happy with. I apologize for the wait, and I hope everyone has been enjoying "Duels of Honour: Giving the Lie" in the meantime. For this month and next, you'll be getting double updates as I finish "Giving the Lie" and get this story rolling. "Giving the Lie" runs seven chapters and "Mercenary Hearts" runs fifteen.

When I finished "Cross Blades," I felt that I'd done a bit of a disservice to Kya 'Pomor. Since "Cross Blades" is told entirely from the points of view of Usze and N'tho, we really didn't have a chance to get into Kya's head. I felt the character deserved a bit more closure, as did Piro. And so, this sequel was born….

I also wanted to tell a bit more of Usze's backstory through the character of his mother, Shayya. And, as it turns out, one of the supporting cast from "Giving the Lie" also makes an appearance here.

If you have not read "Cross Blades," I strongly recommend you read that one first. I've been (congratulated? accused?) of writing a nail-biter and I'd hate to ruin the suspense for anyone who read them out of order.

This story features a heterosexual relationship between two Sangheili. The level of romantic/sexual content is similar to that found in a Silhouette Nocturne novel, which are sold on the public shelves at Wal-Mart, therefore I believe that this level of sexuality is appropriate for publication here under the "M" rating. If you do not like this sort of thing, please do not read this story as you will not enjoy it.

As well, there are secondary characters who are in a homosexual relationship. They are not the romantic leads in this story, but if the very idea offends you, you won't want to read this story either.

There are mentions (no detail) of an underage relationship and a sexual assault. I wish to take this opportunity to state that I do not condone this sort of behaviour in real life, and that my characters are not intended to act as role models. As well, there is no detail given of these events, as I do not wish this story to be misconstrued as celebrating or excusing these kinds of illegal encounters. There also is an occasion (slightly more detailed) of sexual harassment. While all these things are presented as negatives, if the thought of encountering them in a story disturbs you, please do not read any further.

Everyone else, happy reading. Chapters will be released one per month, to a total of fifteen chapters.

For those who are wondering why I update once a month: I have three part-time jobs, may be going back to school, have a family, and am writing two original novels. I think everyone here can understand that earning a living, continuing my education, spending time with my loved ones and writing/working towards an end goal of making writing my career and means of earning a living, all take priority over fanfiction, which is something I do for fun and give away for free. That being said, I love being part of the fanfic community and sharing my stories with other fans, so by releasing one chapter a month, I can stay active in the fan community and still have sufficient time to do those other important things. I also don't leave readers waiting months, or years, for my next update when my life gets too hectic with other things.

"Duels of Honour: Giving the Blade" has already been started, but I can't say at this point when I will start posting it.

Also…when I have extra free time…I'll update side projects like "Blood Shadow" and "The Sangheili Chronicles."

Thanks for understanding.

On with the show…

**Mercenary Hearts**

**Chapter the First: One Way Ride**

_**Setting: the end of Chapter 20 of "Cross Blades," after Halo 3, January 2553**_

Piro 'Kipaz checked the Phantom's controls one last time. Satisfied that the Slipspace-enabled craft was still on course after a week of flight, he activated the autopilot and turned to survey the rest of the vessel's strange crew.

His son, N'tho 'Sraom, was in the hold of the vessel, seated beside a closed stasis pod. Inside the pod was Usze 'Taham, N'tho' mate, the former Blademaster Liaison to the Fleet of Particular Justice. Usze's injury was hopefully not fatal, but it was anyone's guess when, or if, the Blademaster would be walking unaided again.

Traditionally, a Sangheili with such a crippling injury as Usze would suffer one of two fates. In the midst of combat, he would end his own life, or ask his comrades to do it for him if he could not. Should the injury occur off the field of battle, or should the injured warrior somehow survive until the battle's end, he would be forcibly returned to Sangheilos. A married male would spend the rest of his life siring young with his wife; an unmarried male would be fair game as a breeder to any female who would have him. Some injured warriors enjoyed life as studs. Others considered it a fate worse than death, particularly those who preferred males, or those who fell into the hands of some of Sanghelios' more ruthless females.

An aristocrat swordsman such as the Blademaster was forbidden to marry. He would belong to the High Priestesses if he ever returned to Sanghelios.

Piro felt much in common with the now-crippled Blademaster. Piro was old, past the voluntary retirement age and quickly closing on the mandatory retirement age. And he had no wife back on Sanghelios, nor did he have any long-term lovers, and it was best that way. Escaping the undesired attentions of the planet's females by binding oneself to yet another unwanted female…it made no sense to him. In time, his fate would have been similar to Usze's.

So Piro 'Kipaz was not bothered by the fact that their vessel was on a one-way trip.

The Arbiter and his Human allies had no sooner overthrown the Prophets than an insurrection had broken forth within the Sangheili ranks. Many Sangheili disliked the radical new measures which the Arbiter had taken: pulling the Sangheili out of the Covenant, abolishing the old religion, forming an alliance with the Humans, challenging the old notions of gender roles, and more. The Arbiter's new laws were shaking the very foundation of Sangheili society.

For countless generations, Sangheili culture had been based around the values of power, courage, and loyalty. Piro still did not think that these were bad things. But power without compassion, courage without responsibility, loyalty without thought—these values required counterpoints that had been missing from Sangheili society for too long, until power had become cruelty, courage had become futile death, and loyalty had become blind obedience.

Those who liked cruelty, death, and blind obedience were violently resisting the change. Their leader was Imperial Admiral Xytan 'Jar Wattin, and his greatest supporters were the Ascetic Order. The Order had asked Usze 'Taham, one of their own, to assassinate the Arbiter. Usze had refused, and both he and his partner N'tho had almost paid the ultimate price for Usze's choice.

_They still might_, Piro thought, _if the Humans refuse to give us sanctuary on Earth_.

Piro's gaze fell on the fourth member of their little crew, asleep on a narrow bunk.

Unlike N'tho and Usze, who were fleeing the wrath of the Ascetics, or Piro, who had chosen to accompany his son on this one-way trip, Kya 'Pomoraa had been swept up by forces beyond her control.

The Ascetics had captured N'tho, intending to use him as bait to lure Usze to his death. The ambush had mostly failed; those involved were now all dead, including Usze's own father, the Blademaster Toha 'Sumai. But victory had come at a cost: Usze was crippled, N'tho was now on the Ascetics' blacklist, and Kya, poor Kya, she had been nothing but an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire.

Toha had demanded a female for his entertainment. Even now her belly was rounding with the swell of an egg, doubtlessly Toha's child. N'tho had told Piro that Kya had not been a willing participant in the creation of that egg.

Even when Usze and Piro had charged to N'tho's rescue, Kya had not truly been freed. She was a nurse—the only one of the group who had any idea of how to treat Usze's injury. N'tho had been adamant that Kya would be coming to Earth with them to care for Usze; he admitted to Piro later that he'd been prepared to force her if he had to.

Kya had not protested. Whether immersing herself in caring for Usze helped her to forget what had happened to her, or whether she just wanted to get as far away from _Shadow of Intent_ as possible, Kya had gone along with them willingly.

At N'tho's insistence, the Phantom was bound for Earth. N'tho planed to ask the Arbiter for permission for himself and Usze to serve as Sanghelios' ambassadors to the Humans; should the Arbiter refuse, Piro knew that N'tho would claim that the Phantom was broken and that they could not return.

What would happen to Kya when she realized that they would not be returning to Sanghelios or to the fleet?

Now Piro felt guilty. His first allegiance was to his son; his second, to his son's mate. He wondered if the three of them were really that much better than Toha 'Sumai and the Ascetics, or if Kya 'Pomoraa had simply traded one set of abusers for another.

*-*-*-*

_One week later_

Kya walked down the hallway of the base medical wing, her belly fat with egg, and smiled to herself. She had never once thought she would be so proud of what she did for a living.

Usze 'Taham was alive and would someday be able to walk under his own power. Yes, he would always have a limp, but back on the Fleet she had seen countless Sangheili euthanized for injuries less than his.

Kya would be working closely with a team of Humans to help Usze 'Taham heal. Gita Sangupta was a xenobiologist by trade who had been studying the Sangheili for most of her life. Kya had been wary that Gita had wanted live specimens to experiment on, but as it turned out, Gita's primary motivation was a true delight in knowledge and discovery. The Human had been excited to find a Sangheili with medical knowledge whom she could talk to, and as a result, Kya had found not only a co-worker but a friend.

Major Karl Osstrander had been the leader of a field hospital during the war. His team of medics had been the support staff for Usze's operation. Whatever caused the haunted look in Osstrander's eyes, he was able to put it behind him and get on with the business at hand. He believed that forging a peace between Humans and Sangheili was the best way to help his species rebuild, and he was determined to do his part by assisting the Sangheili who would become ambassadors to Earth.

Rashid Youssef was not a doctor, but a veterinarian. Gita had seemed insulted at this news, but Kya had noticed that Rashid was a talented caregiver with a skilful hand and a gentle touch. Rashid also had experience with extremely long, delicate surgeries, and Kya wanted that sort of expertise for Usze. When human surgeons had turned them down, Rashid had been there.

With Gita's knowledge, Ostrander's experience and Rashid's technical skill, plus Kya's familiarity with caring for Sangheili, and a team of Human medics, they had saved Usze's life and put his leg back together.

Gita had argued that cybernetic implants might help Usze heal farther, but Kya had fought against the idea. Sangheili culture preached that the union of flesh and technology was an abhorrence against the gods; to do so was to use the divine technology of the Forerunners to shore up the weak, those whom the gods had already cursed with unworthiness. Kya secretly did not believe in the divinity of the Forerunners and never had; so she considered this prohibition to be nonsense. But more importantly, Usze did believe in these things, and she had to think of his mental state and not merely his physical condition. She did not wish to see him distraught enough to commit suicide.

In the end, though, it would be N'tho who would help Usze adjust to his current reality. Kya felt somewhat relieved that she did not know Usze 'Taham very well on a personal level; it had made the operating easier. Now, though, when there was nothing more she could do for him, she found herself wondering what to do next.

She need not have worried. Gita, Rashid and Osstrander were staying in the area, to provide medical care to the Sangheili and learn more about them, and they offered Kya the opportunity to learn some Human medicine in exchange. Kya was excited to learn that on Earth, doctors were admired instead of reviled. She was fascinated by the things she was learning, and best of all, none of the Humans seemed to understand what the Mark of Punishment on her thigh signified. Osstrander called it a "tattoo," whatever that was.

Here, in the company of aliens, she was finally a real person.

Her three co-workers were fascinated by Kya's swollen belly; they were spending almost as much time examining her as they were in teaching her. Kya was grateful for the attention. It helped her to overlook how much she missed the company of her own kind.

She liked her human friends very much, but they were not the same as other Sangheili.

On the other hand…

She looked back over her shoulder, just in time to see a flicker of red disappearing into a nearby doorway.

The old warrior, Piro 'Kipaz, had been shadowing her ever since they landed on Earth. She encountered him in the cafeteria of the medical wing, or on the beach every time she went swimming, or wandering the halls of the living quarters by night. He was polite if spoken to, but she was not certain she liked the way he seemed to be stalking her.

The egg she carried would not meet the same fate as its predecessors.

*-*-*-*

_Two days later_

Kya woke from sleep by a ripple of pain in her midsection.

The egg.

She had expected to lay within the coming week. But as a second ripple followed the first, Kya realized that the egg was coming early.

It was coming now.

So much for Gita's hope to be present at the birthing, Kya thought. She fumbled on her nightstand with the communications device the Humans called a "cell phone." Gita was on vacation with her family and would not be back in the area for three more days. She really ought to call Rashid, though, just in case…

A third ripple, sharp and powerful, ripped through her. Kya hit Rashid's button on her speed dial and got his answering machine. She barely managed to choke out her name through the mounting pain.

She was a healthy female. She could probably lay this egg just fine on her own.

But why take chances?

She was trying to remember Osstrander's number when the door to her room rattled. She had locked it. "Who is it?" she called, and then moaned in pain.

There was a single blast of plasma fire, and then the door was kicked open.

Kya squinted her eyes.

Red armour with the purple highlights of the 812th Assault Division. Orange predator's eyes glowing in a wrinkled face. Smoke rising from a carbine rifle.

"Piro," Kya gasped. She half-rolled, fumbling under her pillow. So, the old bastard had been hunting her, waiting for this moment. Well, she had prepared.

Piro stepped into her room, as though his name had been an invitation. He picked up her desk chair and deposited it at her bedside.

"Go away," Kya snapped, half on her side, her lips curled in a hiss.

"The egg," Piro said quietly. "You are laying, aren't you?"

"I've laid eggs before," she growled. "I don't need your supervision. And you will not look at…"

Too late. The old Sangheili's hand was already resting on her thigh, atop the branded sigil of the Mark of Punishment.

"This is something I have seen on my own son," he murmured. "It means nothing to me. But if you do not wish me to see the rest of your body, I will sit here with my eyes closed."

"I don't see why you have to sit here at all!" Yelling at him was somehow easier than accepting the casual manner in which he had dismissed the Mark which had made her life a torment.

Piro's gaze snapped to her face; his eyes burned into hers, suddenly impassioned. "I lost my bondmate to complications from egg-laying. I will not permit you to meet the same fate."

Kya cringed at the vehemence in his voice. She knew it was possible for laying to go wrong—uncommon, but still possible.

And she had misread his intentions completely.

He was just trying to protect her, she told herself. The sentiment made her feel strange, uncomfortable. She was not used to being protected. She was not sure that she liked it.

"Do you even know what to do if I find myself in distress?" she muttered.

Piro ducked his head. "I will summon the surgical team with this," he said quietly, holding up a Human telephone device.

"Will they respond, at this hour of the night?"

Piro's cheeks turned purple.

Kya snorted in amusement. Clearly he had not thought of that.

"They are already standing by in the medical wing," he murmured. "Osstrander, Rashid, and a team of medics."

Kya choked. "You…"

"I told you I would look after you," Piro said firmly.

Evidently he took his word seriously.

Another contraction shook her body. Kya closed her eyes, suddenly tired, and she still had an egg to lay. She had no energy to fight with Piro now.

"Very well. You may stay here…" she panted. "And make yourself useful. Give me your hand."

Kya gripped Piro's hand tightly in her own. Every time her body contracted, she squeezed. With her eyes closed, she found herself floating in a world that contained only a handful of sensations: the hot daggers in her body, the warm hand in hers, and the scent of Piro 'Kipaz in her nostrils.


	2. Chapter 2: From the Ashes

**Author's Note: **I don't know if Sangheili canonically lay eggs or have live births, as I don't remember the issue being addressed in any official source.

Even if it turns out that Sangheili officially don't lay eggs, there is a point for many fanfiction writers where new canon breaks away from what they've written in their stories. I therefore intend to stand by my "own" canon.

A chicken will carry its egg approximately a week, and then 3-4 weeks to hatch the egg. I've set the Sangheili gestation period (in the body) as two weeks, and then just under two months for the egg to hatch. Female Sangheili come into season once or twice a year, though they are only legally obligated to reproduce every other year, for reasons explained later in this story.

**Mercenary Hearts**

**Chapter the Second: From the Ashes**

Piro 'Kipaz gritted his mandibles and said nothing as Kya 'Pomor crushed his hand in her grip. By the Rings, the little nurse had _strength_ in that slim frame of hers.

He watched Kya labouring to have her egg and wondered if he should phone the Human medics who he had placed on standby. How was he to know if there were any complications? He had not been at his mate's side to see N'tho's egg laid…he had not seen any of the eggs he had doubtlessly sired during the matings of his youth…

And, of course, he had not been there for his mate's final egg, and he would be forever damned for that fault.

Kya had not seemed particularly grateful for his assistance, but she had little reason to trust him. He, after all, had been complicit in kidnapping her and dragging her here to Earth.

After the widest part of the egg was out, the rest was easy. One final push sent Kya's egg sliding free of her. Her body and the bed beneath her was soaked in sweat. She drew a shuddering breath.

Piro gently freed himself from her grip. He stood and leaned over her, ready to pick up the egg, as a tumble of thoughts went through his mind—pleasure at the idea of a sister for Usze, sorrow at the manner in which the egg had been conceived, regret that he had never held N'tho's egg this way.

"Get away!" Kya snapped, hauling herself to a sitting position. She snarled at him, mandibles flared.

Piro froze. "Kya, sit down, you're exhausted."

"Get away from my egg."

"Kya, I…"

Kya reached under her pillow. When her hand came up, it was holding a plasma rifle.

"Get. Away." She had the gun aimed straight at his head, and from the soft glowing lights on the barrel, it was active.

By the Ancestors, she had gone mad!

Piro held up his hands and took a slow step back.

"Get out."

"Kya." Piro did not want to leave her. She was still weak from the birthing, and he did not want the egg to be cracked by her writhing. "I won't hurt you." He swallowed hard. "I won't hurt your young."

"I do not believe you." She hissed. "You asked me earlier if I wanted this egg."

"Because Usze wants it if you do not," Piro retorted. "That is his sibling in that egg."

"And why would I not want it?"

Piro bowed his head. "Will you make me say it?"

Her eyes flashed. "Yes, I will make you say it!"

"Because it is not fair to your young if, every time you look at your child, you see Toha 'Sumai's reflection."

Kya snorted and let the barrel of the rifle dip from his head to his midsection. "For a male over twice my age, you know nothing of breeding. Do you think I liked every male I ever mated with? Do you think all of them were nice? Even before I was branded with the Mark of Punishment, I did not always _enjoy_ breeding—but it was a legal obligation and I did what was expected of me."

Piro felt ill. He had taken her forcibly to Earth, he had failed to protect her from Toha, and he was only one of a chain of males who had failed her.

"It was all for naught anyway," she said bitterly. "I was first bred at fourteen, but did not bear until I was eighteen. An illness came and took the life of my firstborn. Then I earned the Mark of Punishment and was forbidden to breed any longer." Kya sighed. "It may not be bad, that you did not think of it this way. It is my guess that you have never bred a female who did not enjoy your advances."

The old male shifted, clearly disturbed. "A day ago I would have agreed with you," he said, his mandibles churning with disgust. "Now I find myself wondering. No, I have never forced myself on a female. But I wonder how many agreed to my offers out of legal obligation rather than desire." He watched her weapon nervously. "Is that…"

"The plasma rifle I took from Toha 'Sumai? Yes. It is." She eyed him and then asked a question. "Your son N'tho, who wore the mark…they barred him from mating with females, did they not?"

Piro nodded.

"Because they did not want a punished one to reproduce."

Piro nodded again.

"I was not to reproduce either. But they did not bar me from mating." She smiled without mirth. "They simply smashed my eggs once they were laid."

Piro's mandibles gaped with horror, but on the heels of that shocking revelation was a hard, cold rage. He was no longer surprised that she had hidden a weapon beneath her pillow before laying her egg.

"And you thought that I would smash your egg, even though I know what hell the Mark of Punishment wrought on my son?"

Kya snorted. "Your son had the Mark due to the sins of his grandfather. It is different."

Piro tilted his head. "Because you earned your Mark yourself?" he guessed.

Kya nodded.

Piro snorted. "I know of no crime where an unborn child is the one deserving of death."

The female raised her eye ridge. "Do you then swear, Piro 'Kipaz, on your life and your eternal soul, that you will not do harm to me or my egg?"

Piro could answer without hesitation. He dropped to one knee, despite the protests of his aching bones. "I swear to you, Kya 'Pomor, that I will guard both you and your eggs for the rest of my life, and that I will never do harm to you or your children."

He dared to raise his eyes to hers. The female, wide-eyed, put the safety on the rifle and laid it on the table.

"That is quite an oath, Major Domo 'Kipaz."

Piro hauled himself to his feet with the aid of the end table. He wished she was not watching him as for a moment he struggled not to sink back down to the floor. He gritted his mandibles and with one last push of strength, he forced his stiff body to obey his will. Standing before her now, he murmured, "I mean every word of it. It is the least I can do for taking you here against your will." Piro bowed his head. "It is the least I could do for my failure to protect you from Toha."

She snorted. "You did not know me then. Why should you care?"

"Do you think this makes you worthless?" He reached out to touch the Mark of Punishment on her thigh. "If I do not condemn my son for it, how can I condemn you?"

Kya looked uncomfortable. "I have heard you muttering with guilt," Kya said, "feeling regretful for forcing me here. Rest assured, Piro 'Kipaz, I could have fought you had I wished to—you know now that I had a weapon in my possession the whole time." A cynical smile twisted across her features. "Did it never occur to you that perhaps I wished to flee the Fleet? What life was there for me among the Sangheili? Shunned by my own kind, forbidden from raising children, condemned to a lifetime of solitude? What did I have to lose by accompanying you?" She glanced around. "Here on Earth, the Humans treat me with respect. They have genuine interest in my knowledge and I have similar desire to learn from them. All I ask of you, Piro of the house of 'Kipaz, and of your son and his bondmate, is that you leave me in peace to raise my young."

"Your young is Usze 'Taham's sibling. He wishes to be an uncle to his brother or sister." Piro folded his arms. "It is not an unreasonable request. It is in our species' nature to share the raising of the young." He looked her in the eyes. "We will not harm you, but we will not leave you alone either. This egg is Usze's sibling and my nephew-by-marriage. Whether we like it or not, we are family."

*-*-*-*

_Two days later_

Kya turned the egg over in the incubator and thought about Piro's words to her on the day the egg had been laid.

_Whether we like it or not, we are family._

Arranged marriages were common among the Sangheili. When she was little, she had expected that when she graduated Finishing School and came of age, she would be married to one of the Pomor Keep's many allies. Her mother, the keep's Captain of the Guard, expected her daughters to do their part in maintaining—or cementing—the keep's relations with its neighbours and trading partners.

She had grown up knowing that she would not be able to choose her own mate. Her fondest dream was that her mother would find her a strong, handsome male to be her husband; someone who would be as kind to his wife as he would be ruthless to his enemies.

But then she had been caught. Caught, and shamed.

She had been brought before her mother, and instead of matching her with a husband, she had branded her with a hot iron and cast her out of the keep.

Kya had been very fortunate indeed that her aptitudes at Finishing School had been enough to allow her entry to a nursing college. Nurses, doctors, and other medical workers were already shamed; they did not mind her brand. The medical staff had become a second family, and they had soothed the pain of being cast out of the Pomor Keep.

She had tried to console herself that she was now free to choose her own mates, and she had done so, but none of the relationships had lasted.

She wondered if her mother would have chosen better after all.

This situation she was in now was very like an arranged marriage. Through the machinations of fate, she had come to live in this strange place, among these strange Sangheili. And they had been kind to her, accepting her as one of their own.

She wondered if that situation would last.

Her blood ran hot in her veins. Her insides ached. Her muscles quivered.

Ancestors have mercy on her. She was still in season.

*-*-*-*

Piro crept quietly down the corridor towards the incubation room, feeling like a thief, though he had every right to be there.

The egg contained Usze 'Taham's little brother or sister. Usze was his son-in-law, as the Humans described it. Family. This egg was his family, and he would tend it.

What else was there for him to do? He had spent his entire life fighting on demand, going where he was told, doing as he was ordered. He had no other talents, no other use. He was too old to learn a new skill.

The Covenant's religion might have been a lie, but it was not the Covenant who had ordered that elderly, useless Sangheili commit themselves to the desert, that they might not burden their families and take meat from the mouths of the young. The Sangheili had known that of old. The coming of the Covenant had simply given the Sangheili plasma weapons and turned that final voyage from a literal journey into a symbolic one. There was no longer any need to limp into the burning sands; a shaking finger on a trigger could do the job far more swiftly.

And so Piro vowed not to be a burden on N'tho and Usze now. The notion that he was their Honour Guard was laughable. If nothing else, he could tend the little one. It would give him a reason to exist now that he no longer had to dedicate his life to watching over N'tho.

Piro opened the door and noticed Kya in silent vigil over her egg.

By the Rings, he hoped the female was sincere in her statement that she could forgive the little one its unfortunate origin. And yet, Kya had hidden a weapon to protect her egg. The nurse's ferocity made Piro inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt.

He sidled up to her. "How is our little one?"

Kya smiled at him softly. "Warm. I can feel it turning beneath the shell." She took his hand and placed it on the leathery shell of the egg. Piro marveled as he felt a knocking within, as though the new life swirling within was eager to stretch and explore.

He had seen so little of N'tho's infancy. Piro had been with his battle unit, at war. It staggered him now, why more Sangheili fathers did not seek out a role with their young. Mentoring N'tho had been the most rewarding experience of his life.

And now that N'tho had a mate of his own…well…here was another young one for Piro to care for.

He peered over at Kya. She seemed sad, distant, and Piro felt a lash of regret sting through him. Piro and Usze had arrived in time to rescue N'tho, but not in time for Kya, and as a result, she had borne an egg to Toha 'Sumai.

This egg should, at least, have been the product of a willing encounter.

"I am sorry," Piro said softly.

"For what?"

"For…the origins of this little one." He cleared his throat. "Kya, we had no idea what 'Sumai and his associates had in mind for you…or we would have…"

Kya shook her head. "You need not indulge in falsehoods. Why would you have endangered yourself for a stranger? You took the risk for your son, as Usze took the risk for his mate. That is a reasonable thing. To do so for the likes of me would simply be a foolishness."

She seemed to place precious little value on herself. Piro fidgeted uncomfortably. "I cannot help but feel guilt."

"Then perhaps you could fulfill for me one simple request."

Piro sighed. It was the least he could do. "Name it."

Kya 'Pomor looked him straight in the eyes and said, "I would have more young."

He was taken aback by the young female's bluntness. Yes, he owed her compensation for bringing her to Earth to care for his son's injured bondmate, for tearing her away from her job and her home and everything she held familiar, but never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that she would lean in to look him in the eyes, filling his nostrils with the sweet perfume of a female in season, and demand more offspring as the price of her forgiveness.

She must have taken his stunned silence as argument. "I do not think this is an unreasonable request," Kya said, folding her arms. "On Sanghelios, as a female with a Mark of Punishment, I was forbidden from reproducing. My eggs were destroyed before they hatched. Here on Earth I am free, and here on Earth I will have everything that Sangheili society forbade me to have. I will have more young, Piro 'Kipaz. That is all I ask." She bowed her head and said quietly, "N'tho is a fine Sangheili."

Piro did not like where this conversation was going, not at all. N'tho had always had a weakness for…how could he put it? Promiscuity? It had caused trouble enough between N'tho and Usze. Piro had been secretly relieved that here on Earth, N'tho would not find any temptations to lure him from his bondmate's side. Of course, he was also assuming that N'tho didn't like females, which might not be entirely accurate. He had to consider that N'tho's previous mates had all been male because, as a warrior with a Mark of Punishment, N'tho had been forbidden from mating with females. And now, here on Earth, there was a female in season who apparently had N'tho in her sights.

Piro did not want to see N'tho and Usze's relationship fall apart. Not when Usze's affection had finally given N'tho some sense of his own self-worth.

The older male cleared his throat. "N'tho and Usze…they are still struggling with their relationship. Please, Kya, do not impinge on them now. Give them time. Once they are secure, then one or both of them might consent to give you young, but not now…not so soon...please…"

Kya tilted her head and seemed suddenly sad. "Is that what you think of me, Piro 'Kipaz? That I would interfere with a couple in love?"

Piro stared at her, confused. "You said N'tho was a fine Sangheili."

Kya closed her eyes and bowed her head again. "I would have a son like N'tho."

Piro still wasn't sure what she meant, not until she leaned forward and placed her mandibles under his. His arms raised up instinctively, shocked by her sudden nearness, but when he put his hands on her shoulders, she pressed herself against him insistently. Her scent filled his every breath, causing the inevitable physical reaction. He found himself holding her instead of guiding her away. She murmured her encouragement, bunting him with her muzzle. Shocked, confused, her meaning percolated slowly through his mind until realization struck him like a lightning bolt.

She was not seeking N'tho to sire her young. She was seeking a child like N'tho. _A_ _sibling to N'tho._

Oh, by the Rings, he couldn't do it. She was so young…young enough to be his daughter, his granddaughter, even. What could she possibly see in an old soldier like him?

_Other than Usze and N'tho, you're the only male on the planet._

And he had been concerned that she might come between Usze and N'tho, hadn't he? What better answer than to take care of Kya's desires himself? If nothing else, she would leave the other two alone.

"Oh, Kya," he whispered, pulling his head back so his mandibles could form the words. "Are you sure this is what you want?"

She pulled away long enough to look at him with pleading eyes.

"Very well," he whispered. "Meet me…" His voice broke. "Meet me tonight, on the beach, at sundown."


	3. Chapter 3: Perchance To Dream

**A note on continuity: **Most people who are writing fanfic in a fiction universe with ongoing information being published are sooner or later going to find actual canon conflicting with their fanon, as new stories/books/games/comics/products reveal more information.

I love the _Halo Encyclopedia_, but I've been naming Sangheili after their keep/state, instead of the tri-part surnames in the encyclopedia. And I have at least two Elite Minors who haven't fallen on their swords because they didn't get promoted by the end of their first campaign (N'tho, Ki 'Chaz…). Or that most Sangheili never leave the homeworld, where I have every able bodied male who can pass the War Academy being drafted into the Covenant fleet. So….rather than go back through four published fanfics, this one, and five in progress, to change to the new canon, I'm simply going to say my stories are in a slightly alternate universe than official canon, and concentrate on maintaining an internal consistency.

That being said, other new canon info is adaptable. I know why Usze didn't go by the swordmaster suffix 'Tahamai in my universe, and I've got an explanation for Kusovai's new first name too…which I'll work into a story if I can.

**Mercenary Hearts**

**Chapter the Third: Perchance to Dream**

There was no moon in the sky, but Kya knew where she was headed. The stars shone brightly overhead, providing enough illumination for a Sangheili's keen night vision, while a roaring bonfire on the beach sent its beacon skyward to mark her destination.

Kya had dressed for the occasion in a short sari, the closest thing she now owned to a breeding gown. Nerves fluttered in her stomach, and she took deep breaths to calm them. She had nothing to fear. She had been misreading Piro all this time, thinking the worst of him, when in fact he had been as kind to her as any of the medical staff on _Shadow of Intent. _She had no doubt he would be gentle now. The mating would be quick and civil and then…then…

Another child to call her own.

Such a gift was worth any price.

But the ghost of Toha 'Sumai haunted the edges of her mind, poisoning her thoughts of mating with memories of degradation and pain, and there was something else churning in her gut, something about Piro that she could not put words to.

Kya slipped silently out of the cover of the trees, moving ghost-like across the dunes to the place where three fallen logs lay in a crude square shape around the fire pit. The fourth side of the square was open to the sea, where the reflected firelight glittered with the movement of the waves. Kya perched on all fours atop one of the logs, inhaling the spicy fragrance of smoke and the salt of the sea.

Her keen hearing picked up a movement nearby. A dark shape emerged from behind one of the dunes: Piro, his head bent low, dragging a carcass. A deer. He looked up and their eyes met.

Piro ripped a great chunk out of his prey's haunch and trotted across the sand towards her. He had acquired a tunic somewhere, silk, red with purple trim to match the colours of his armour, and it was this he wore tonight. She had never seen him out of his battle dress before.

Kya felt a sudden flush of embarrassment as the warrior dropped to his knees before her, holding out both empty hands and the bloody chunk of meat.

"Piro. You do not need to court me," she chided.

'Kipaz lifted his hands to take the meat from his mouth so that he could speak. "Is it so wrong?"

She set her mandibles. "You do not need to pretend for my sake that breeding me is anything more than an obligation."

"Is that really what you would prefer?" he asked quietly. "Simply to bend over the nearest log and have it over with?"

Kya was silent for a long moment. No, she did not want to be abruptly taken from behind. After her experience with Toha, she had no desire for sex whatsoever. But… "To have young, I must mate. I accept this fact. The sooner the act is done, the sooner we can put it behind us."

Piro tilted his head. "There are ways to make it more comfortable for you."

Kya frowned. "And these involve courting me, as though this match were arranged by our parents?"

The old Sangheili sighed. He pulled his mandibles together in a stubborn expression; she had the impression he would have folded his arms were it not for the meat he still held. "No. The rite is a selfishness, Kya. To make this evening more comfortable for me."

His words took her aback. She had not imagined that a male might not be eager for an opportunity to breed.

Watching him, there in the firelight, she realized that she was the one being selfish. She knew so little about him.

So little, save that he had been kind to her.

"Do you not like females, Piro?" she asked softly.

"That is not a problem for me," he replied, his voice quiet. His gaze traveled up and down her form. "You are very attractive."

Kya, feeling suddenly both ashamed and embarrassed, dropped her eyes. "I have been thinking only of myself."

"You were wronged by Toha 'Sumai. That wrong was worsened when N'tho and I brought you to Earth. We did not ask your consent."

"I would have come anyway."

"That does not excuse our failure to ask your permission."

His apologetic tone made her uneasy. "Why don't we simply assume I said yes? You know what I desire, Piro—a safe place to raise my child, where no one cares that I have a Mark of Punishment, where no one will hurt me or my little one. For me to be on this beach now, pressing you to give me more children…now I have strayed into the indulgence of my own greed."

"But you still want more young."

The desire for children welled up in her, strong and fierce. "I cannot deny that."

"Then let me put to you another bargain, Kya 'Pomor. I will give you the young you desire, if you give me something in return."

She felt her heart leap at the prospect of another child, but even as her pulse rose, her hands grew clammy with fear. What could Piro possibly want of her?

"What I ask…" The old warrior's expression grew sad. "Is only that you pretend to enjoy my company."

Kya bit down on her mandibles. Was it really so easy? "What will you ask of me?" she whispered, suddenly frightened. What strange tastes might he have? What bizarre acts might he expect her to agree to?

"Nothing a suitor would not customarily ask of his mate," Piro said softly. "Though…"

Yes, here it came.

"I have it on good authority that a female who has had…ah, unpleasant experiences in the past…may enjoy breeding more if the male permits _her_ to mount _him_."

Kya snorted. She had only ever heard whispered rumours of such a strange position. "What sort of warrior would let a female dominate him?" The idea was disgusting. She would not have any children of hers sired by a weak-willed father.

Piro spoke with an edge of steel in his voice. "The sort who places his mate's comfort over his own selfish pride."

Kya's mouth felt suddenly dry. Could it be possible that Piro… "Is it really more comfortable?" she heard herself asking.

"It allows the female control," he replied softly. "How deep, how fast, when. If you fear to be at the mercy of another, you need not fear tonight."

"And you know this because…."

His expression grew sad again. "It was favoured by my bondmate," he murmured, his head bowed.

"Your bondmate." Kya's stomach twisted—was she forcing Piro to betray the female he loved? "Is she on Sanghelios?"

"She is buried there, yes."

Kya felt a sudden relief that she was not treading on the boundaries of a relationship, and immediately on its heels came guilt. It was clear that Piro grieved the loss of his mate.

Well, he was several decades older than she was. Perhaps he did, indeed, know more about this matter than she.

Kya blushed. "I do not know how to…" Her voice caught. "How to mount a male."

Piro offered her a tentative smile. "I can teach you, if you wish."

'Pomor found herself strangely nervous, as though she was on the verge of her first mating again. She had approached Piro because she had considered herself willing to pay any price for more children; she had expected him to simply use her and be done with it, leaving her with a fertilized egg, leaving him with a night's pleasure. The notion that he might care about her comfort during the act made her feel shy. Why? Because it would be difficult to dismiss this night as nothing more than an insemination?

More importantly, why was he doing this for her?

"Why such concern?" she asked, driven to know.

"We are a family here," he murmured. "Usze and N'tho will be helping to raise their young siblings, and I…I will of necessity have a role in their upbringing as well. A family should be on good terms with one another. There is no reason for me not to be good to you, Kya. We will be seeing much of one another."

Kya smiled ruefully. "Am I overreaching to say you would be this kind to me regardless?"

Piro studied her. "No. You are not."

She was lucky indeed, then, if she had found a male who was simply a good person. What did it matter that he was old, or that he had not fought other males for her favour, or that their mating would not provide her family with a political or economic alliance? What did it matter that she did not love him? He had fathered a fine son, and raised that son, and he would be kind to her and her children. She should stop questioning her good fortune.

Pretending to enjoy his company might not even be so hard.

"It is flattering," she said shyly, "to be courted. It has been many years since I have had the pleasure."

Piro raised the chunk of meat to his mouth and gripped it firmly in his mandibles. He held his hands out to her; they were smeared with the deer's blood.

Kya did not mind.

She approached him and laid her hands in his. Slowly, she lowered herself to her knees, and, spreading her mandibles, she began to feed on the meat.

On the opposite side, Piro too was eating. Kya was convinced the rite had descended from ancient times, when a male sought to win a female's favour by illustrating his skill as a hunter. The flavour of the meat, on the other hand, was new and exotic, deliciously flavourful, and very fresh. Piro could have asked for meat from the Humans, but Kya was certain that Piro had hunted this prey himself.

As the chunk of meat between them dwindled, Kya began to eat more delicately. She did not want her flailing lower mandibles to catch on Piro's. Piro, too, was gently scraping with his lower jaws, separating the meat into shreds that he could suck down his throat.

When the meat had dwindled to a small morsel—when their upper mandibles were touching as they gripped the meat and their lower mandibles softly rubbed tips as they ate—Piro released his grip on the meat, giving the remainder to her.

It would be rude to refuse. Kya quickly swallowed the last bit of venison down.

Piro responded by licking her muzzle, lapping deer's blood from her snout.

She swayed at the sudden intimacy of his tongue traveling over her flesh. She gripped his shoulders for support, heedless of her bloody hands. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her, staining her sari with blood. She lapped deer's blood from his cheek and realized she did not care about her clothing.

Piro curled his hands around the cloth hem near her throat. Kya's breath caught. She flushed, waiting for Piro to remove her clothing.

Instead, he simply held his position. She dared to raise her eyes and found him watching her.

"Yes?" she whispered.

"Would you prefer to remove this yourself?"

She bowed her head, flattered by his considerate request. "It is all right."

"Then…" He grinned sheepishly, the smile of a boy a fraction of his age. "Perhaps you would explain to me how it is removed."

Her mandibles dropped. She stared at him.

He flushed.

Kya couldn't help herself. She threw back her head and laughed.

And he joined her, wrapping his arms around her, laughing towards the star-studded skies.

When they rolled to a stop, Kya was more or less on top. Kya put Piro's hands on the rope around her waist. "Untie this," she whispered, her cheeks flushing purple.

"You had best be careful," he warned her, teasingly. "I could have borrowed some of those Human "pants" from N'tho. You would never figure out how to remove them."

"Why didn't you?" she asked slyly. "Because it's not nice to tease?"

"Because I would never figure out how to remove them either."

She giggled unexpectedly. She clapped her hands over her mandibles, but Piro was squinting and smiling. He took her wrists in his hands and showed her the belt of his tunic.

Kya's laughter faded. She undid the knot quickly, before her hands began to shake too much for her to finish the task. Then, tilting her head shyly, she opened the sari.

Piro settled himself on his back, raising his hands to stroke overtop her ribs. Kya closed her eyes. She did not want to watch him appraising her body. It was easier to pretend she was atop a young warrior who was looking at her with pleasure…

His hands settled on her hips and gently guided her into position.

She could feel him under her, strong and firm. The shock of his shaft so near to her made her eyes open. An alpha male—a powerful, virile, desirable mate—would simply have torn the clothing from her and…

A memory of Toha 'Sumai passed through her mind and made her shudder.

Piro's hands stilled. He tilted his head at her, making a questioning sound low in his throat.

Kya forced herself to remember that Piro was nothing like Toha, and in so doing, relaxed. She gripped his shoulders in her hands as she knelt over him. He went back to stroking her, now murmuring a soothing series of melodic sounds, like a song with no words.

No, he was not an alpha male. She wondered if an alpha male would ever excite her again.

Piro's gentle touch was comforting, and it was agreeable to be close to him. She lowered her body down to his and found that he was warm, heating her chest while the fire warmed her back. She felt like a child again, cradled in her uncle's arms. Part of her savoured the sensation of having someone hold her tenderly again.

Another, though, wondered how they would possibly get around to the mating which was the purpose of their meeting here tonight. Piro was clearly ready. Would he take her by surprise? She did not want him to, and yet she doubted she would ever be truly prepared to mate.

Then Piro reached into the tumble that was his clothing and retrieved a small jar. Kya watched him as he unscrewed the lid and gently set it on his clothing; the contents appeared to be some sort of thick lotion, clear in colour and with only the slightest hint of fragrance that seemed to suggest incense, something exotic yet light…

"What is that?" she asked curiously.

Piro flushed again.

"It is a salve to help with breeding," he explained.

As a nurse, Kya had heard of this sort of substance; she had recommended it to females who considered mating painful. But she had never tried it herself. She had never felt the need.

"May I?" he asked gently.

Kya nodded. She did not know if it would help but at this point she would accept anything. She closed her eyes and spread her legs, trying to will away her fear, but no matter how she struggled to force her body to relax, she could not make her tension dissipate.

He touched her.

He did not waste time groping her, squeezing her ass, drooling over her. He laid one finger right on her most sensitive place and kept it still.

Kya gasped as she felt the sudden shocking moisture of the salve right on that place.

Her first thought was that Piro was wasting no time.

Her second was that it was _good_.

Her back arched in sudden, instinctive reaction to the erotic stimulus. Piro moved his finger ever so slightly and suddenly her back was arching again. She had to struggle not to groan.

"Do you like it?" he murmured as he moved his hand so slowly, so slightly.

As if her reaction was not obvious! Her eyes flew open, and she saw that he was watching her questioningly even as he continued to stroke.

"Is it bad?" he asked her gently.

She shook her head as she struggled to suck air into her lungs and calm the burning need inside her. Every time she thought she had control of herself, his finger would move just a little and her body would be begging for release again. No, it wasn't bad. It was _too good_. What would he think of her if she came before the actual mating even began?

"Are you fighting it?" Piro whispered in her earbud.

She bit down on her mandibles, hard. Piro's left hand trailed her lower jaw, coaxing her mandibles apart.

"Don't fight it, Kya."

She snorted. "What would you say if…"

He moved his finger against her and she lost her words.

Kya sucked in air and tried to finish her sentence. "Say if I came right now?"

"I would say I am glad to see you happy." He nuzzled her neck. "Would you like that, Kya?" he said gently.

It wasn't fair. He asked the question while intensifying his caress. Of course she liked it. Of course…

Kya closed her eyes and let her mind drift even as Piro found a rhythm, rubbing decadent circles against her. She remembered her childhood dreams of her future husband: strong, handsome, a mighty warrior, a devoted mate. She imagined that fate had brought her that male as her mate, and that he was caressing her even now.

She moaned as his touch struck a chord—yes, she liked that sensation. She liked those short, fast movements. Her mate read her response and continued doing that, and Kya…Kya arched her back, her breath panting in and out, her hearts thundering, until he slipped his left finger inside her. The combination of sensations proved too much. Kya threw back her head and came hard.

Her male stilled his caress, though he kept his finger within her. She tightened around him as she lay her head on his chest and let her breathing still. He lapped her cheek gently.

She imagined her fantasy mate whispering to her. "Well done, my beauty."

Kya stirred. She clenched her muscles on Piro's finger. It felt good, but she wanted more. She bunted him insistently with her muzzle.

'Kipaz smiled and withdrew from her.

Kya moaned, voicing her displeasure at his absence. She felt empty inside, hollow. She wanted to be filled, to be fulfilled.

Piro put his hands on her hips—one hand on either side—and guided her into a position that would give her what she desired.

She sank onto him, trilling her mandibles as he entered her. The weight of her buried him to the hilt as she settled herself atop him.

He showed her how to move and before she knew it, his hands had fallen away and she was doing it herself, moving against him of her own free will. By the Rings, she was _experimenting_—wriggling around to found what felt best, because _nice _was no longer enough to satisfy. And when she found the position she liked most, she indulged herself in it, and Piro's hands rose again, to her shoulders this time, urging her on. He drove his hips upwards to meet her, and she squealed because somehow he had made it even better. She focused her pleasure-blurred eyes on his face; his eyes were closed, but from the look on his face he liked it too….

"Lela'ra," Piro moaned.

Kya did not know the word, though Piro said it over and over again. She pushed it out of her mind; who cared what he was saying? It was what he was _doing _that mattered, and what he was doing was _good_.

Until Piro elaborated.

"Lela'ra…my wife," Piro whispered, and suddenly Kya understood. Piro did not feel _her_, see _her_. In his mind, Piro was mating with his long-lost partner. Kya realized that Piro's relationship must have been one of love, not merely mutual benefit.

_All he asked was that I pretend to enjoy his company—not to feed his ego, but to preserve his fantasy._

Suddenly Piro's eyes opened, and Kya realized that she had gone still, and he had noticed. He blinked, as if waking from a dream.

Kya turned her head and licked his muzzle, then whispered in his earbud, "Please continue, my handsome mate."

Piro closed his eyes and renewed his movements, a smile back on his mandibles, a smile that soon became open-jawed gasps, as his excitement drove him to a place where he could no longer form words.

As for Kya, she no longer needed to pretend to enjoy his company—the pleasure that sent her cry spiraling up towards the stars was very, very real. After one last gasp, Piro's shout joined with hers.


	4. Chapter 4: Ambient Wonder

**Mercenary Hearts**

**Chapter the Fourth: Ambient Wonder**

Piro felt his hearts skip beats as he found satisfaction in his lady's arms.

She was not his bondmate—she was the nurse, Kya 'Pomor—but Piro closed his eyes and willed the truth away, imagined for a few moments more that Lela'ra 'Sraom was the one atop him now.

When Kya had at last stilled, she slid off of Piro and brought his dream crashing to a halt. He opened his eyes, watching as Kya reached for her clothing. She was struggling back into her sari when Piro sat up and reached out, catching her arm, tugging her back to his side.

"It's cold," she whispered.

"I'll keep you warm," he murmured, drawing her against him until they lay on their sides, her front facing the fire, her back pressed against his chest. She drew the sari over both of them like a blanket.

By the Rings, he wanted to hold her, listen to her hearts slow to their regular rhythm. Just a few moments more to pretend Lela'ra was still in the land of the living…

He squinted his eyes shut tightly, squeezing a single tear from each, and pressed his mandibles to the nape of her neck so that Kya would not know he cried.

Kya was still, and while he was grateful for the time to compose himself, he feared that she was hurting as well. He licked her neck until she purred quietly.

"Are you satisfied that you are with child," he whispered, "or would you like to increase your odds?"

*-*-*-*

Kya quivered as she pondered his question. Piro held her gently, and his hands were still; he was not trying to seduce her or pressure her in any way.

Kya rolled over—she ought to be facing her mate for this discussion—and put her hand gently on his cheek. By the Ancestors, he was old. He had visible wrinkles in his hide.

But he had bred her with the ardor of a male half his age.

"Can we do it…the traditional way?" she murmured.

"Of course," Piro said, and licked her muzzle. She jumped at the sudden intimate contact. How strange that she'd been mating with this male, yet the tenderness in his tongue's caress shocked her.

He withdrew, watching her react.

She had not expected such respect from a male she'd essentially bullied into breeding. By all rights, he should have slaked his pleasure on her and considered her discomfort a fair price paid for the child she desired.

Kya placed her mandibles under his in a gesture of affection and submission.

Piro sighed—she felt his breath against her muzzle—and only now did his hands start to move on her body.

He was in no hurry for her to assume the position. He seemed more interested in tracing the length of her spine, and somehow he seemed to know exactly where to touch to set her nerves on fire. She found her body coming back to life, pressing insistently against his, writhing under his touch. She held her breath, wondering if he would give her the touches she desired, and when she thought she could wait no longer, he would finally find his way there. She moaned loudly every time, making certain he knew of her approval, and when she did this he would purr and begin to stroke her, indulging her desires.

Kya closed her eyes, for if he could dream, so could she. Soon she imagined that she was being caressed by a young Zealot, who looked upon her with pleasure, who did not turn away from the brand on her thigh. And, of course, he would know exactly what females enjoyed…

She hardly needed to imagine that part. Piro really did know what he was doing.

Kya found a moan escaping her mandibles as Piro trailed his hand up her inner thigh for the final time and made his way at last to the center of her. His fingers found her sensitive place and he laid them on her gently, like a musician about to play an instrument. And then he moved…light, slow circles. Almost no pressure. No thrusting. No teasing, now. Just slow, regular circles—over and over—over and over—

Kya whimpered as her hips began beating. The pleasure was a gentle but constant input. He was not trying to show off for her, or hurry her along, or satisfy himself. He was supporting her and letting her discover her pleasure for herself.

She fell into her fantasy, and as her body grew hotter, Piro's touch was still there, just the slightest bit firmer now, just a little bit faster…

"Piro," she panted, wanting more.

He purred as he granted her wish.

Kya felt her hide growing slick with heat. She was moist between her thighs. A muscle in her lower left mandible twitched uncontrollably.

"Piro, don't stop."

She was on the verge…she just needed a little more…

His finger teased her opening.

Kya groaned. Once he found out how wet she was, he'd mount her and it would all be over... Piro would be grinning in delight when he took his pleasure, oblivious to the fact that she'd been denied hers.

Piro's finger slid inside her as his pace increased a little more.

"Piro?" Kya gasped.

"Come for me," the male murmured.

Kya threw back her head, disbelieving, but her body would not let her lips form the words to question him. Her body was desperate for release, now, and she could not bring herself to deny herself this indulgence.

She did as he asked.

Her climax was powerful and yet it was not enough; no sooner had her shout of pleasure split the darkness than she felt a sudden lust rising up again in her belly, drowning out the aftershocks that should have given her satisfaction. She felt as though she were only beginning.

"Piro….why…."

"Why what?" he murmured as he withdrew from her.

"No!" she cried urgently.

"No?" he asked, recoiling.

She grabbed for him. She needed him. Desire seared her brain. "Don't stop!" she pleaded. She was ready to throw herself at him.

He stroked her, soothing and exciting her in the same moment.

"Kneel for me."

Kya could imagine her handsome fantasy mate speaking in Piro's voice; she kept her eyes closed as she rolled and rose up on all fours in the traditional breeding position. Ordinarily her mate would fold the short skirt of her breeding gown up onto her back, but she wore none, and instead of soft furs beneath her knees, she felt sand, and instead of incense she smelled the salt ocean, and…

…but why should a fantasy mate be restricted to the breeding chamber? If her dream male loved her, then why wouldn't he take her to the beach for something adventurous?

She felt his thighs against her rear, his chest over her back. He was careful not to put too much weight on her, but oh, he still felt like a man to her. An aggressive, courageous, powerful Sangheili male, everything a female of her species desired.

But he did not enter her, no, not yet. Instead he curled a hand around her hips to stroke her opening with his finger, testing her, probing gently. There was an unspoken question in the gesture.

"Please!" Kya cried.

He gripped her hips and entered her on one swift thrust.

Kya hung her head and surrendered her body to her mate. He surged within her, and sharp waves of pleasure crashed over her. This was what she had wanted—a strong and skilled male to give her fit and healthy young….like any other Sangheili female, as though she were any other Sangheili female, as though her branding and the rape and her exile were the illusion now, and her reality was a fine husband and a growing family and a secure future.

And there was something else she'd wanted…to slake the burning lust he'd raised in her. As he moved in her, this new need was finally, _finally_ met. It scared her, the intensity of this desire, the way she had craved…

…craved her fantasy husband…

"Lela'ra…" Piro panted.

They moved in tandem, two dreamers lost in their own visions, and this time their climax did not wake them. They moved intuitively, separating reluctantly only to cling desperately to one another, chasing loves that would forever elude them. Even as their breathing deepened and their pulses slowed, they did not wake, instead slipping into true sleep in the arms of their dearest mates.

*-*-*-*

The aching in Piro's bones finally awakened him. He nuzzled his snout into Lela'ra's soft neck, trying to hold on to the last vestiges of sleep, but the pain would not be denied. He felt as though he were lying on the cold ground, with a chill in his bones that caused them to throb, and something rough digging into his hide…

Piro's eyes snapped open.

On the horizon, a single sun was rising, painting the sky with pink and orange. Overhead, a bizarre-looking bat creature spread feathered wings and soared towards the sea; its mournful cry echoed over the sound of lapping surf. Beside him, a female Sangheili young enough to be his daughter whimpered softly as Piro sat up and stretched his legs in an attempt to relieve the ache.

The fire in the fire pit had burned itself down to nothingness. The scent of the deer carcass tickled Piro's nostrils; there was plenty of meat left on the bones for a Sangheili willing to flay them clean.

By the Rings, he'd mated with Kya not once but twice and then they'd fallen asleep out here.

Piro craned his neck down to watch his newest mate. She stirred, reaching out to the now-empty spot beside her. He rubbed her shoulder, trying to comfort her, but she shivered and opened her eyes.

For a moment it was as though she did not recognize him; she frowned, confused, and then she shied away and flushed purple.

"I think we wore one another out," Piro said gently. "Excuse me while I dress."

He picked up his clothing and moved some ways away, suddenly embarrassed. It was not his usual practice to fall asleep next to his mates; that was an intimacy he had reserved for Lela'ra. After her death, the world was once again his breeding chamber: please your mate and be pleased in turn, and then go your separate ways. He had not intended to sleep next to Kya. By the Rings, he had to be getting old, if two matings exhausted him so thoroughly.

He did not look back until he was fully dressed. Kya, too, had dressed and was now standing in her sari on the far side of the fire pit, looking out to sea.

Piro walked back towards their camp site. "Would you…would you like some more meat?" He felt strangely awkward, as though he were a youth again. He had no idea what to say to this female he barely knew. He lived with her—he could not simply go on his way in the knowledge he would never see her again. The relationship between them was something undefined now, and he did not know how he should behave towards her.

"I…I'm not hungry, but thank you." She seemed self-conscious as well. "I'd best be getting back to see to my egg. I hadn't planned on leaving it unattended all night."

"Are you well?" he asked, fearing the answer. Had he hurt her?

She ducked her head shyly. "Yes…I… I just…it was…"

"Bad?"

Kya lowered her head in the negative. "Not what I expected."

"Yes. It seems it was that for…both of us." He reached for her, then thought better of it. "Until another time, then."

"Take care," she said, and turned to leave. Her stride became a brisk walk, then a bolt, until she was scampering away on all fours. He prayed she was running from her own turmoil, and not from him.

Piro settled on one of the logs and watched the waves rolling to meet the shore. He wondered if tonight he would have to kneel before his ancestral altar and beg Lela'ra's forgiveness for a favour that had gotten out of hand.


	5. Chapter 5: Keep What You Steal

**Mercenary Hearts**

**Chapter the Fifth: Keep What You Steal**

_Four weeks later – late February 2553_

Piro's door was locked. Kya stood in the middle of the hallway of the base living quarters, wearing nothing but a Human-style nightshirt decorated with a picture of an Earth animal, and tugging uselessly on Piro's door handle. For a brief second, Kya considered returning to her own room and abandoning her foolish purpose here.

The throbbing between her thighs overruled her better judgment.

No sooner was she fully healed from birthing her latest egg—Piro's child—than she'd found herself beset by erotic dreams. Dreams strong enough to wake her up in the middle of the night, hot and bothered and desperate for relief.

On the Fleet it had been an easy matter to deal with. The Sangheili in _Shadow of Intent's_ medical unit, all outcasts more or less due to their profession, tended to bond together. Sometimes the unit resembled a little family, with the chief doctor as its patriarch and the various health care workers under his command as his de facto children. Other times, though, inter-unit relations were more like those of a keep, where the males and females regularly mated with one another. They were doctors—of course they knew how to avoid unwanted eggs. And they were already shamed, so there was no further stain to their honour if they used birth control. They understood one another, each other's needs, each other's desires, and they were generous to one another. Kya had never lacked for company, male or female, as she desired.

Here on Earth, though, there were only three other Sangheili. N'tho and Usze were bondmates, and even on the Fleet, Kya had never extended her requests or her generosity to those with permanent partners. She would not come between N'tho and Usze now.

Which left her with Piro, and he was also out of bounds. She had already pestered the poor creature into giving her a child; she could not expect him to be her sexual plaything as well. He had narrowly escaped a forced retirement to Sanghelios, where he would doubtlessly have lost much of his dignity, pressed into a role as a stud—the common fate of an unmarried male who was no longer suitable to fight and had no other skills with which to earn a living.

So Kya had no one to turn to help her with her natural urges.

She had attempted the honourable thing of taking matters into her own hands, as it were, and she had done this many times before, but for some reason, tonight, satisfaction was eluding her. It seemed as though every touch of her fingers brought back memories of Piro and his damned salve, that wicked, delicious stuff that had felt so impossibly good. So shockingly moist—so sweetly tantalizing—so decadently pleasurable, and Piro's cunning fingers playing over her body like an instrument. By the Ancestors, she had dared to moisten her own fingers to try to replicate the sensation and it had not been nearly enough.

She had become desperate enough to go in search of the real thing.

Piro was in the nursery, standing guard over her eggs, though it would be some time before either one hatched. Caring for children was not a masculine thing to do, in Kya's eyes. She wanted a warrior mate, not an emasculated, servile creature who did a woman's work.

But on the other hand, what was Piro to do on this world? His official title was "honour guard," but everyone could tell that N'tho was more than capable of guarding himself and his mate. And Piro had never been anything but a basic soldier; he had no mechanical skills, no artistic ability, not even medical knowledge like hers. He had spent his life fighting, and probably felt useless now that the fighting was done. Perhaps she should be more charitable; perhaps tending the children made him feel useful.

And, when it came right down to it, it was unusual but not illegal for a male to care for young.

Break and enter, on the other hand, was as illegal on Earth as it was on Sanghelios.

Kya had hoped Piro had left his door unlocked. The living quarters of the Sangheili Embassy were very private; strangers did not wander through it uninvited, and the Human guards had better manners than to snoop. Why had Piro secured his quarters? Who did Piro think would be going through his personal things?

Perhaps he knew some things about Kya already.

Whatever he knew, it was not nearly enough. Kya produced a small, thin piece of plastic from her pocket, slid it into the crack between the door and the doorframe, and then struck the door near the latch in an upward blow. The card disrupted the sensors in the frame, making them think the door had been opened, while the blow popped the latch out of its socket. Kya caught the card before it hit the ground, opened the door, entered the room, and closed the door behind her.

She stood silent for a moment, letting her eyes adjust to the dimness. The glow from under the door was enough for her to perceive a lamp on the far side of the room. She did not use the overhead lights; they were too bright, and should Piro pass by in the hall, he would notice their illumination under the door frame. But the lamp, turned on to its dimmest setting, would not betray her.

Piro's room was orderly, very proper, with every item in its place. His bed was neatly made, and all his drawers were closed. A small altar sat against the far wall; Kya wondered if Piro still had any use for the Covenant religion. Kya had never had faith in the gods beyond what custom forced her to feign, and she did not mourn the revelation that the Covenant's faith had been as false as she had always suspected.

Piro's walls were covered in tastefully framed holos and photographs. Piro with N'tho. N'tho with Usze. Piro and Usze with her eggs. Even one of _her_, standing with the other three Sangheili at the dedication of the Sangheili Embassy.

She turned away, not wanting to think that she was betraying a friend. She let herself dwell on the sharp pangs of lust piercing her body and her soul. She was here because she had a need.

Kya checked the bathroom first, but Piro did not leave that little bottle of salve standing next to his soap dish or fang cleaners. As she rummaged through drawers, she began to worry that Piro had taken it with him. Why would he do such a thing? There were no other females on Earth!

_Unless he was playing with Human females. _Why should it bother her if he was?

Or, hells, perhaps he kept it with him for the same reason she wanted it now!

She jerked open the drawer to his bedside table and her pulse began to hammer.

There! Was that the quarry she sought? Her knees felt weak as she imagined the cool glide of the salve. She sat on the bed and plucked the little jar from the drawer.

Kya had just begun to unscrew the lid when the door of the room suddenly opened, and the light snapped on.

*-*-*-*

Piro was certain that that he had to be dreaming. He saw Kya, seated on his bed, her sleeping gown rising up to mid-thigh, clutching the bottle of salve in her hand. A fantasy, to be sure, save that her expression was not an inviting smile but rather the gaping mandibles of surprise.

"Kya," he said quietly, willing himself not to tremble with a sudden hot excitement as a whisper of delicate musk crossed his sensitive nostrils. No, she no longer smelled like the rich, earthy scent of a female in heat; now her fragrance was lighter, sweeter, that of simple arousal rather than breeding urges.

Could she really have come to seduce him? Did she want more of him than simply the siring of young?

Why else could she be here?

He crossed to the bed, trembling with excitement.

There was a voice in the back of his head reminding him that mating with a female so much younger than he for no other reason than pleasure was a selfish act. He should not be keeping the young lady from the courtships of males her age…

…but there were no single males her age on Earth. What could he be keeping her from save her solitude?

She had to be lonely, and the more he looked at her, the more he felt the same.

Kya bowed her head in deference as he approached. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

Piro hesitated with confusion.

"For being here?" He sat on the bed next to her and could not hide his chuckle. "Kya, surely you realize that retiring to bed only to find an attractive female in a short dress curled up in your bunk thinking…carnal thoughts…" His eyes dropped to the bottle in her hand. She flushed. Piro forced himself to continue, though what he truly wished to do was stare at her. "…is a fantasy for any warrior with any taste for females whatsoever."

He put his arm around her shoulders. He could feel an electric tension in her frame, and it was contagious.

"Who else is there to comfort either of us?"

He felt himself growing hard.

"Now, let me help you with that."

*-*-*-*

Kya sat in frozen shock as Piro took the jar from her unresisting fingers and finished opening it. He sat next to her, then set the lid on the bedside table and slipped his finger inside, stirring to spread the contents.

Their eyes met. Piro smiled smugly and began to stir more provocatively…sliding his finger in and out of the jar…swirling within…

Kya moaned.

She had come to steal, pure and simple, and Piro had caught her at it. She deserved to be punished in whatever way the local authorities punished thieves. But Piro had completely misread her intentions; he thought she was here to seduce him.

And so she had a way out of her just desserts, and all it would entail was for her to pretend some desire for Piro.

So she forced herself to lay her head on his shoulder. This should not be so bad. She had already mated with him; she knew he was gentle and kind. It would certainly be better than being publicly shamed in front of the Humans who had come to be her friends.

Piro's body was warm against hers. He might be old, but his chest was still firm, his hearts still pulsing strongly, his scent still a pleasing warrior-musk.

She hadn't come here for this. She'd come here for…

…a substitute for a real male. Now she had a real male.

She tried to think of Piro in the nursery, cuddling the children like a nest-mother, but the scent of him now was pure masculinity as he watched her appraisingly.

Kya still felt unsettled. Dishonest. She was now both a thief and a deceiver. She should disabuse him of any notion that she was the sort of person worth his generosity.

Then Piro stopped playing with the jar.

He still had a warrior's swift strike when he chose to use it. In the blink of an eye, the jar was on the table and the hand he'd been using to hold it was wrapped around her, pulling her back against his chest. And his other hand…

His aim was true as his finger slid under her skirt and went straight for its target.

At the first moist touch—_oh so good—_Kya lost her ability to tell Piro anything.

*-*-*-*

Piro closed his eyes and listened to the thundering pulse of Kya's hearts, the rasping of her breath, the quivering of her sweat-slicked body against his as she came down from her peak. He breathed in the sweet, sweet scent of aroused female and savoured it. How long had it been since he'd had a female in his bed?

Longer than he could recall. Six years at least, ever since N'tho had graduated from War College and been posted to the 812th. Piro had taken Lela'ra's son under his mentorship as soon as he could, even taking him into his room when others had threatened the young soldier bearing the Mark of Punishment for his grandfather's crimes. Mating in front of his son was simply inappropriate, and Piro would never have dreamed of suggesting to the boy that he would ever be unwelcome in his own quarters. N'tho had precious little stability as it was.

So Piro had occasionally gone out to enjoy a female's company—or even more rarely, a male's—but none of those relationships lasted long enough for there to be an issue made of the fact that no one ever spent the night at Piro's save N'tho and Piro himself.

It was so strange, now, to have a female in his quarters. Strange and yet, also wonderful.

Because Kya knew. Kya knew what happened when he mated—Kya knew the name on his tongue was not her name. It had gotten him kicked out of more beds than he could recall.

And yet, here she was, in that silken gown, waiting for him….

"Move back," he urged her, leaning back and supporting himself on his left arm—curse the tremors in his body!—while guiding her back on top of him with his right arm. His left arm gave out when his body was just an inch off the mattress. He fell into the mattress, pulling Kya with him. She squealed.

They lay partly on their sides and partly on their backs, with Kya's shoulder blade gently overlapping Piro's chest. He stroked her inner thighs and she settled at once, spreading her legs for him.

He could feel her gently rounded rump parting to admit his shaft and he felt the room spin dizzily at the thought. By the Rings, how he wanted her.

But first, he had to thank her.

These days he sometimes forgot where he put his belongings, or he would put them in strange places, like food in his desk and writing tools in his refrigeration unit…but he had not forgotten what Kya liked.

He teased her until she squealed. Then, slowly, generously, he let his finger spread the salve all over her, moved his fingers slick against her, slipped in and out of her. He closed his eyes and groaned as she mewed in pleasure. His memories did not measure up to a live female in his arms…

When her breathing had steadied, Piro murmured in her ear, "Have you strength enough to mount?"

She twisted away and stared at him, her eyes wide.

He was puzzled. She appeared to be shocked. Hesitant. It was not the seduction he'd expected.

"Are you still timid about that?" he guessed.

Her mandibles moved but no sound came out.

"I can…" Her reaction was unnerving him. He reached out to stroke her bare flanks. "What do you desire, my beauty?"

"If I…" Colour rose in her face. "If I…climbed atop you…simply to indulge my own pleasure…" Her words trailed off in a cough. She tried again, "If you were to lay there and watch a selfish female making a spectacle of herself as she pleasured herself on your body…"

Piro smiled. "I think I would enjoy watching such a spectacle."

Kya whimpered, her control slipping.

'Kipaz slipped his hand between her thighs and thought that a light stroke, almost a tickle, with one finger, ought to do it…

'Pomor cried out with desire and mounted him.

And Piro sighed with pleasure, and closed his eyes, and summoned up his mate's ghost from the recesses of his mind.

*-*-*-*

Kya lay on her side and tried to come to grips with what she'd done.

Beside her, Piro was sound asleep already, breathing rhythmically, and he was smiling. It was not the smug, self-satisfied grin of a male who'd just proven his virility and skill; it was a soft smile of contentment. Kya had no doubt that in his dreams, Piro was lying next to Lela'ra, having grown old with his beloved bondmate at his side.

In that moment, Kya decided she had no reason to feel guilty.

She'd used him to get pregnant. But he'd used her as well.

Why should she feel badly about mutual pleasure?

No, next time she would not sneak into his room and rifle through his things in search of a jar of salve. Next time she would simply slip up behind the old male and ask him if he might find space in his bed for her…

And she would let him dream. She would let him cry Lela'ra's name, and behind her closed eyes she would dream of young, handsome warriors whispering sweet nothings in her earbuds.

Surely a mutual fantasy was better than two lonely hearts lying cold in separate beds.


	6. Chapter 6: Farthest Outpost

**Mercenary Hearts**

**Chapter the Sixth: Farthest Outpost**

_Early March 2553_

Shayya 'Taham stood on the bridge of the military-grade transport _Abundant Plenty_, waiting for the vessel to decant from Slipspace. She was a striking figure, a mature Sangheili female just shy of fifty years of age, wearing some of the finest clothing that Sangheili ducats could buy. In truth, Shayya 'Taham stood out wearing nothing at all. Her hide was so dark as to be almost black; her muzzle more square than round, her scales large and prominent. The Sangheili of the island keep of Qorop had been isolated from the mainland for so long in the time of savagery that they were almost a sub-species unto themselves, with different features, darker colouration, and a prominent accent. For all that she bore her husband's name, only a blind creature would fail to notice that Shayya 'Taham was an exotic beauty the likes of which was rarely seen outside of Qorop.

Earth. She'd seen the Covenant broadcasts, but they'd done almost nothing to tell her what the planet was like. The newscasts, obviously biased in time of war, described the Humans as uncultured savages; now, the Humans were the allies of the Sangheili, and hopefully they possessed at least some virtues that had been overlooked in time of war. Shayya had to admit she was nervous about interacting with the locals, so much so that she wouldn't have done it for anyone but Usze.

Shayya felt fortunate to have had the means to travel to Earth in search of her son. The Covenant military did not allow civilian passengers on its vessels, and very few of the Sangheili passenger ships were flying beyond the immediate Sangheili colonies these days. Even for those who did not fear the rogue Admiral Xytan 'Jar Wattin, Jiralhanae, Kig-Yar raiders, pirates, and worse lurked beyond the fringe of Sangheili space. Shayya's husband, Tesli 'Taham, was one of the few civilians who owned a large, legally armed, independently crewed military-grade transport like _Abundant Plenty_.

Tesli 'Taham was a merchant, the owner of a prosperous series of factories that manufactured preserved foodstuffs. The factories employed many citizens in the city-state of 'Taham. The 'Taham citizens' fervent loyalty towards their employer, who treated them as part of his extended family, gave Tesli a large degree of political power in addition to the wealth his business brought. While Tesli had enjoyed lucrative military contracts, he was fortunate that his products were popular planet-wide among the Sangheili civilians as well. If the military downsized in the wake of the current upheavals, Tesli's products would still be in demand.

Shayya shivered, remembering the anonymous death threats she and Tesli had been receiving ever since it became publicly known that her son, Usze 'Taham, had abandoned the Ascetics in support of the Arbiter.

It made no sense. Sins were to be visited upon the offender and all of his line—but who decided what was sin any longer? The Ascetics, who had once been the role models for all of Sanghelios to emulate, even before the dawn of the Covenant? Or this new Arbiter, the one whose alliance with the Humans was perhaps the only reason there were any Sangheili still alive?

Regardless, though the Arbiter had promised to ensure the safety of her family, Shayya had decided that the time was right for her and her husband to visit her son Usze on Earth. They had taken _Abundant Plenty_, and set out for the Human homeworld, accompanied by a crew hand-picked by Tesli and a set of bodyguards provided by Admiral Rtas 'Vadum. Until the discontent on Sanghelios settled, Tesli felt his family would be safer on the Prospere colony, a small planet owned entirely by the 'Taham mercantile corporation. It was their next destination after Earth.

'Vadum had also promised to arrange clearance with the Humans, so that they would not be alarmed by the arrival of an unexpected alien vessel in their planetspace. Shayya had asked him not to tell Usze that they were coming. The Admiral had grinned and promised not to ruin the surprise, and Shayya had simply let him go on believing that an innocent bit of fun was all she had planned.

The truth was, she had a terrible feeling that something was wrong with her favourite son.

Usze should not have been her favourite of her eighteen children. She had been married to Tesli 'Taham at a young age, just after her second breeding, to forge an alliance between the small and impoverished island keep of Qorop and the prosperous 'Taham city-state. The Qorop Kaidon had hoped this alliance would increase his keep's ability to sell goods and raw materials to the 'Taham factories. For the good of her people, Shayya 'Qorop had gone south to marry a 'Taham son.

Much to everyone's surprise, the relationship between the sixteen year old daughter of the Qorop Kaidon and the sickly twenty year old son of the 'Taham factory magnate had rapidly become a love match. Shayya had not cared that Tesli 'Taham was often ill in the aftermath of a childhood disease that had ruined his immune system and left him too weak for the rigours of combat; he was incredibly smart, had a talent for business, and showered her with kindness. Nor did he hesitate at the fact that she looked so different from the females to whom he was accustomed. Shayya's sisters had married warriors, some of whom were cruel, or boring, or foolish—Shayya quickly came to scorn their pity, for inside Tesli's spindly body was the soul of a hero.

Two years later, Shayya and Tesli were formally bonded; the resulting reception party had spread to the whole state of 'Taham. The following year, when Tesli's father died, he inherited the business and became the new pillar of the 'Taham city-state.

And, unfortunately, the resulting publicity had cast a shadow upon their house.

Somewhere, the Ascetic Swordsman Toha 'Sumai had seen an image of Shayya and become determined to have the exotic female for his own.

Most Swordsmen did not press their claims on married females when the females were also bonded to their mates. Toha 'Sumai did. Nothing Tesli said or did could change his mind. Tesli 'Taham had even offered Toha the entire wealth of his factory; 'Sumai had cuffed him across the face and refused, demanding what was his by right.

Shayya had been given no choice in the matter.

Perhaps she could have fought the bastard, but for Tesli's sake, she did not. She remembered the sickening sight of Tesli falling to his knees from Toha's blow, and for all Toha was a great Swordsman, the fact that he would use his strength to terrorize a cripple made her sick.

Shayya had hated every second of her mating with Toha 'Sumai. He had not brutalized her, had not hit her, had not screamed at her or insulted her, but she had not appreciated his caresses or his compliments, and no matter what he had done to her, he had not pleasured her. In the end he had simply taken his own pleasure and left, while she had gone, cringing, back to Tesli.

Her husband had prepared a warm bath for her and he had entered it with her, had helped to clean her, until eventually they had wept in one another's arms.

Shayya had hoped that her body might reject Toha's seed, but it had not, and in two weeks' time she had laid an egg.

What had surprised her was that Tesli had treated this egg just as he had those that had contained his own young.

Shayya had not known it was possible to fall in love twice, but when the egg hatched, when Tesli picked up the child for the first time and declared that he would name "his son" Usze 'Taham, Shayya's affection for Tesli had grown to a point that Shayya had not realized was possible. Usze would be that rare child that had a surname that did not match either of his biological parents, for Tesli 'Taham had been determined to treat the boy like his own son.

There had been five years of happiness and then Toha's shadow had returned.

Thankfully, it was not Toha himself. Instead, it was a representative of the Ascetic Order whose name Shayya had forgotten. The Ascetics were all the same, so calm and restrained as they pronounced their judgments, all faceless behind the blade-faced armour. The Ascetic had told her that Usze 'Taham would enter special training to become a member of the Order, by the word of his father, Toha 'Sumai.

Usze began to spend most of his time in the company of the Ascetics, coming home only on selected occasions. And as the years passed, Shayya watched her clever, talented, affectionate son slip away from her, until he became nothing but an Ascetic in miniature, cold and distant, emotionless, condemning anything that could not match him, his face as blank as the helmet he came to wear after his graduation from the Iruiru War College. The Ascetics had stripped him bare, and the only thing that remained of her son was his talent.

Oh, his talent. He was a demon with a blade, the top graduate of his year at the War College in Iruiru, and a master of tactics. Shayya was so very proud of him, even as she feared what his strict devotion might mean to anyone around him who failed to meet the punishing standards he himself upheld every day.

And so, when she had heard that Usze had betrayed the Ascetics to protect the Arbiter, she was not certain what to think.

Usze had shown defiance before. He had refused to allow the Prophets to put him on their ceremonial honour guard; his allegiance had always been to the Ascetics and Sanghelios first. Like most of the Ascetics, while he paid lip service to the Covenant, his soul was pledged to a deeper purpose—the old-fashioned Sangheili ideal of the Perfect Warrior that formed the basis of the order.

Shayya could not even begin to imagine what could have caused Usze to betray the Order, for which he had almost given his life—his refusal to join the Honour Guard had led to multiple assassination attempts, all of which failed at the point of Usze's blade.

And now Usze was the Sangheilian ambassador to this alien world.

She had also heard rumours about his new life, though she had received little confirmation in fact. One rumour stated that Usze had a bonded mate; another that he had been injured in an altercation with the renegade Xytan 'Jar Wattin's loyalists. Rtas 'Vadum had confirmed an injury and the idea made Shayya sick with worry. Usze had always pushed himself so hard; how would he cope?

And then there was his alleged mate, N'tho 'Sraom. Shayya bit down on her mandibles. The crew had told her plenty of stories about N'tho 'Sraom, and none of them were complimentary.

It galled her to think that her Usze was giving himself sexually to such a filthy creature as 'Sraom. Usze must be desperate, to mate with 'Sraom in exchange for support and care. What had 'Sraom forced Usze to do to earn his keep?

_He wants to live_, Shayya said to herself. She had to think of the positive. She had been surprised that Usze had chosen to recover from his injury at all. Traditional Ascetic thinking stated that death was more honourable than a life spent burdening others.

Usze had always embraced the teachings of the Ascetics wholeheartedly, and Shayya hated what those teachings had done to him. Forced into the footsteps of his biological father, the Ascetic Order had burned the heart out of her son, and left a ruthless avatar behind.

And yet she still loved him. She loved those precious moments when she saw, peeking through the Ascetic mask, a glimpse of the boy that was her son. She treasured the letters he had sent to her, one a week without fail, every week of his life. She was certain he still loved her in whatever way he was still capable of love.

She would care for him, Shayya vowed. She would spirit him away in the middle of the night and take him with them when they fled for the Prospere colony. Whatever N'tho had done to him, she would work to mend.

Perhaps they would find some eligible female Sangheili on the Prospere colony; perhaps one of them would be right for Usze. He was no longer a Swordsman; he could marry and start a family. And if there were no good females for her son…then Shayya would tend him herself, for as long as it took.

*-*-*-*

Kya 'Pomor came awake in the early hours before dawn. She still found it odd that the planet was so dark during the rest cycle—on Sanghelios there was always at least one sun in the sky—but it did make it easier to tell time.

Piro was still sound asleep beside her, breathing deeply. Kya fidgeted nervously. She had come to terms with the idea of treating Piro as she had treated her fellow medical personnel—as a friend to spend time with, share assistance with, and, yes, maybe even to mate with—but the idea of lying here and waiting for Piro to wake up made her feel uncomfortable. It was too much like what a consort would do.

She was not Piro 'Kipaz's consort and she did not want the old warrior to get the wrong idea. She might be doubly shamed, as a convicted criminal and a medical worker, but she had never allowed anyone to control her sexuality, or her right to give or withhold her favours as she saw fit. Many of her fellow medical personnel had traded their bodies and their independence for improved social standing or material goods, but she had refused to bow to anyone. Her life had been harder, but her decisions were her own; that, to Kya 'Pomor, was worth more than rich food or feigned respect from those who had cast her out.

The only one who had ever come close to taking control of Kya's body was Toha 'Sumai. Kya liked to think that she regained her sovereignty when she killed her rapist with his own rifle. It might have been more just to let him die slowly of the massive damage Usze had inflicted on him with a gravity hammer, but…no. It had been important to Kya to be the one who had ended his life.

She was beginning to…

…_grow fond of_, she told herself…

…Piro 'Kipaz. She did not want to have to shoot him, so she could not have him thinking that she belonged to him, or that she did not have the right to sleep with another male Sangheili should one present himself. Or female, Kya thought, though in truth she had never found female mates particularly satisfying. In principle, she could mate with anyone.

So, to disabuse Piro 'Kipaz of the notion that she belonged in his bed, she slipped out from under his sheets into the chilly morning air. She padded across the floor, opened the door, and closed it quietly behind her.

*-*-*-*

Kya had not been sure how Piro would act the next time she saw him. He walked into the mess while she was eating breakfast with Gita.

It had taken a while for Kya to explain why she did not like to see humans eating eggs for breakfast. The cooked chicken eggs reminded Kya far too much of smashed Sangheili eggs. She found the very idea revolting. Gita, out of respect for her friend, chose bagels instead when she ate breakfast with Kya.

Kya had a mouthful of flayed ham lodge in her throat when Piro entered, but the older warrior had simply wished them both a good morning and continued on his way to pick up a sausage patty and English muffin.

Normal. Piro was acting as though nothing had happened.

Kya could do normal.

*-*-*-*

Kya was in the incubator room, watching her eggs, when she heard the door open behind her.

She did not turn her head. A deep breath was enough for her nose to tell her that it was Piro.

He walked over to her. She gritted her mandibles, expecting him to place his hands on her shoulders or perhaps grip her arm in the sort of proprietary gesture that was too common to male Sangheili. Mating did not make her his property. Fortunately, she had years of practice in putting males into their place.

But Piro did not touch her. Instead he pulled up another chair and sat next to her, near but not too close, watching the eggs.

"They're beautiful," he said at last. "It's hard to imagine that in a few short weeks we will have the first of two young ones zipping about."

Kya nodded non-committally.

"You will have much to teach me," he said quietly. "N'tho was fifteen before I began to parent him in earnest."

Kya stared at him in surprise. It was not traditional for Sangheili fathers to raise children; most children did not even know who their fathers were, save in a general clan sense to prevent inbreeding. "You wish to…"

Piro gave her an almost guilty smile. "Humour me. I have no ties to my siblings, no one to give me nieces and nephews, and precious few duties on this strange world."

Kya shrugged. Her siblings had disowned her long ago, and even if they had not, they were not on Earth. She would have no one else to fulfill the traditional uncle role for her young. Why not?

"I think I can do that," she replied.

Piro rose from his chair. "I promised N'tho I would join him for…he says we are watching something called "hockey"…but first…" The old Sangheili scratched at the back of his neck with his left hand while his right dipped into the carrying compartment in his armour. "I, ah…I have something for you."

Piro leaned forward, took her hand, and pressed something cool and thin-edged into her palm.

Kya looked down at the object and recognized it as a key card for the barracks apartments. She had a similar card for her own room.

She had no doubt about whose door this card would open.

Kya sighed. She had brought this on herself for falling back into her thieving ways. When would she ever learn that the price of being caught was always higher than the rewards she earned?

And now she had to pay for her crime with her body.

She gritted her teeth, reminding herself that this was Piro, who was a far kinder warden than her mother or Toha 'Sumai. He would not scar her or shame her and even the sexual toll would be tolerable, perhaps even pleasant…

"Tonight?" she asked him, trying not to sound bitter.

His eyes widened as though she had shocked him. She must have failed to hide her feelings entirely.

"If you wish," he replied gently, and was that a nervous twitch in his mandibles? "Any time you wish."

*-*-*-*

Kya stepped out of the shower and wrapped herself in a towel. As she crossed the room to her bed, her eyes fell on the little key card on her dresser.

_If you wish._

Well, maybe she _didn't _wish. What would Piro 'Kipaz make of that?

Kya put on her strange bedclothes…a wide necked T-shirt and a pair of cotton shorts printed all over with images that Private Cyr told her were "cartoon characters"…and crept into her own bed. The Human sleepwear was comfortable, for all it looked strange. She no longer wanted to wear her nightshirt after that encounter with Piro; it resembled a breeding gown too closely for her to feel secure about wearing it any longer.

Kya curled up and wondered how long it would take for Piro to come knocking on her door.

Before she knew it, she was waking up to a ray of sunshine on her face.

Morning already?

Kya's shock was followed by a completely irrational urge to pull the blankets over her head and sulk.

She told herself that she was grateful that Piro had apparently _meant _"if you wish" literally, but a petulant part of her insisted that surely she was entertaining enough in bed for Piro to pursue…

*-*-*-*

Kya continued to sleep in her own room and, much to her eventual frustration, Piro 'Kipaz did not say a word about it.

Apparently Kya had mistaken Piro's interest in her post-mating. Their sexual relationship must only have been a series of pity fucks and some wishful thinking on Piro's part. She should be thankful he respected her too much to pressure her to continue acting as a stand-in for his deceased bondmate.

Perversely, Kya was not as thankful as she ought to be.

She told herself sternly that she could not indulge in such girlish foolishness. She did not need mooning males telling her she was attractive, she did not need to primp and preen herself, and she did not need to embarrass herself by developing an inappropriate attraction to a much older male who, in the light of day, treated her as though she were his beloved niece.

She should look at Piro as a generous and kind uncle, and treat him accordingly.

But then, one night, her ghosts came back to haunt her.


	7. Chapter 7: When You Need Me

**Mercenary Hearts**

**Chapter the Seventh: When You Need Me**

_Mid-March 2553_

Kya 'Pomor lay in her queen sized bed, wrapped in her blankets, wishing she could go to sleep. Unfortunately, sleep was not coming easily.

She opened her eye and looked at the room key card on her dresser. The key to Piro's chamber.

She was tempted to go next door and ask Piro to let her in, but she did not feel like mating tonight. She wanted to be cuddled and held and soothed. She did not think Piro would appreciate her arrival only to be denied any sex tonight.

Kya picked up her phone to call Gita, wondering if the Human would be willing to hold a Sangheili the way Kya's fellow nursing sisters had once done. Unfortunately, Kya did not have the opportunity to find out; she kept getting Gita's answering machine. The Human was not at home.

Finally, Kya fell into an uneasy sleep. She tossed and turned for hours before she plummeted into a nightmare.

In the dream, she was pregnant with another of Piro's eggs. She was in her bed when Toha 'Sumai burst into the room and caught her by the shoulder, dragging her to her feet. He scowled at her belly, and then he punched her there—hard. Piro's egg cracked inside her, and as yolk fell from her thighs, 'Sumai forced her down and…

Kya snapped upright in bed, tears streaming down her face.

She wrapped herself in the blanket so tightly that it hurt, but it was not enough to stop her from shivering. She could not bear to be in this lonely room any longer.

Her tear-blurred eyes fell on her end table. A glowing red clock displayed the numbers 02:48, indicating a time near the middle of a typical Human sleep cycle. Next to the clock sat Piro's key.

Humbled, Kya got out of her bed, put on a simple dress, and padded out into the hallway.

Piro's room was the door beside hers on the left. The base hallway was deserted as she slid the card into the lock and turned the handle.

Piro was, of course, asleep. Though his bed was large enough for two, he did not sleep in the middle as Kya did in hers. He slept neatly on one side, as though the other side were reserved for someone else.

_Lela'ra._

Kya did not even care about that tonight. She laid her key card on the end table, but when she lifted the blankets, she hesitated, feeling shy.

Then she gritted her mandibles. She could not face a night alone and sex with Piro was a small price to pay.

As she crept into the bed, Piro stirred. The old male lifted his long neck, blinked his eyes, smacked his mandibles. "Kya?" he murmured.

She had expected him to ask for Lela'ra. "Yes," she murmured as she lay submissively beside him, waiting for him to take his price.

She could not help it—her eyes shimmered with tears. She gasped, gritting her mandibles, willing the tears away. She had not wept in front of Toha 'Sumai and she would not weep now.

But the memories of her dream rose up, catching her in their teeth, and the fact that she had to earn her keep in Piro's bed clashed so terribly with her tender memories from the beach…

Her left eye spilled over.

And then Piro was holding her, and his tongue ever so tenderly lapping the tear from her cheek.

She threw her arms around him and bawled.

Kya sobbed until her face burned, until her throat was raw and her eyes stung. The floodgates were opened, and ten years of uncried tears tore forth in a torrential flood. She wept for the shame of her branding, of her abandonment by her family, of the abuse and derision she'd suffered as a medic. She grieved for her son, killed by the plague, and her eggs since then, smashed before they'd hatched. And she cried because Toha 'Sumai had raped her for his pleasure and she had not been able to stop him.

Piro held her firmly but gently, as her mother had when she was young, back when her mother had still loved her. He drank her tears, inexhaustible, as if he could handle all the sorrow she threw onto him. He murmured to her, and she was not sure if she should see him as an uncle or as a lover. The other medics on _Shadow of Intent_ had been her friends, but they had never cared for her like this.

Kya cried, and cried, and the next thing she knew, woke up.

*-*-*-*

Kya awoke, feeling something warm and soft against her. She opened her eyes to discover a pillow tucked between her arms.

She was alone in Piro's bed.

A note had been placed on the bedside table, overtop of her key card. Her name was written on the front. She sat up in the bed and opened it.

Dear Kya:

This morning Sergeant Perez commed me to say that he had neglected to tell us that the Ambassadors were invited to attend a joint memorial for those killed in the war. Usze and N'tho are away on official business in Europe, so Lord Hood asked me to fill in for them in their absence.

As a result, I was not able to wait for you to wake up. I am sorry to have missed the light in your eyes.

If you permit me the opportunity, I will be more conscientious tomorrow.

Yours,

Piro

Kya read and re-read the letter, as if trying to decipher a mystery written in its lines. She could not quite place her sense of confusion. The letter clearly stated where Piro had gone and, unsurprisingly, he was inviting her back to his bed that evening.

It was something about that invitation.

_If you permit._

_ I will be more conscientious._

There was nothing in that sentence about Piro's needs or desires. And the previous paragraph…Piro had missed her _eyes_? Not _I am sorry to have missed the chance to screw your brains out? _

It might be a euphemism, but even if it was, it was touching. Piro was always a gentleman.

And still, the tone of the letter was neither sexual frustration nor calculated seduction. It sounded like a genuine concern for her welfare.

For some completely ridiculous reason it turned her on.

Was that his game? Reverse psychology? Because right now she wanted him back in this bed, reminding her physically that all males were not like Toha 'Sumai. She wanted something slower and sweeter than her usual tastes…she wanted him to lick her cheek, and tell her she was pretty….

Kya felt a strange unease. For ten years she had looked after herself, and for ten years she had not wasted her time with useless tears. She was torn between gratitude, at having found a man like Piro, and discomfort, at the thought that she might need one.

*-*-*-*

_Late March 2553_

They named her Shae.

Kya's new extended family was all present for the hatching: Piro, N'tho and Usze; Sergeant Perez, Private Cyr and Private Mbeki; Gita, Rashid and Major Osstrander; and even the infamous Private Doyle, who stood against the back wall and said nothing, but whose very presence—without a single crass word uttered—spoke volumes. All of them had held their breath as Kya's first egg quivered, rocked, cracked down the middle and suddenly burst open when a little hand punched through the shell.

Rashid had reached forward, but Kya had held him back, for it had always been traditional wisdom that a young Sangheili must free itself, to prove its vigor and strength.

This little one had both of those in spades. Punch after punch pummeled the shell, cracking it from within, until a small Sangheili slipped out from the fractured dome.

"She looks like you," Gita teased, which was silly of course—who could make out adult features in such a little one? But its skin was the same shade, its muzzle the same shape, and Kya breathed a secret sigh of relief, for part of her had feared her young might be the spitting image of Toha 'Sumai.

Then the little one opened its eyes.

One green, one amber. 'Sumai eyes focused on Kya.

"It looks…" Perez breathed, his voice strangled.

"It is my sibling," Usze said smoothly, forestalling any awkward comments. "Of course it looks like me."

Kya found Piro squeezing her hand tightly to comfort her.

Usze reached out for the little one, then paused and glanced at Kya. His message was clear—_I will take this little one if you cannot._

But Kya could, and wanted to. This was her young. She had a child again! A child who was not smashed in the egg because its mother had a Mark of Punishment. A child who, Gods willing, would not catch a plague here, on this alien world.

Kya scooped up her little one and took a deep breath, examining the child's scent.

"A daughter," she murmured in wonder.

Tiny claws wrapped around her extended finger and Kya's soul leapt in joy. It felt as though her young was claiming her, and in that moment she did not care if it—_she_—had 'Sumai eyes.

"What're you gonna call her?" N'tho asked.

Kya realized that she had not thought of a name. Something within her had been too frightened to give the child a name, for fear of losing it. And she did not feel right giving her new daughter the same name as her son, lost to the plague. She did not want a replacement child. She wanted a new start.

"Usze will name his little sister," she decided.

Usze appeared startled, but as always, the Ambassador recovered with his usual grace. "I would like to submit for the consideration of the assembled, to name my little sister Shae, in honour of my mother."

"I accept this name," Kya murmured. "I give you all….Shae 'Pomor."

*-*-*-*

_Two days later_

Kya had a feeling that she was about to learn the hard way why most Sangheili females chose to lay only one fertilized egg per season.

In the 'Pomor keep, Kya had enjoyed assistance from the keep's nannies, who helped new mothers with their young and watched over the common rooms. Some of the nannies made their lifelong careers caring for the keep's young, while others were retired female members of the Home Guard, too old for their home defence duties.

Kya had been appreciative towards the nannies, but only now did she understand just how invaluable their assistance had been with her first child. Now, she was the only adult female Sangheili on the planet, and little Shae was _demanding_.

The infant Sangheili had to be fed every two hours around the clock, and after only two days of being the only one doing this duty, Kya's stomach was starting to ache and she was feeling a little dizzy.

Nitro had offered to help care for Shae, but when Kya actually asked him to feed the child, he appeared bewildered and asked where the baby bottles were.

Kya was horrified that N'tho had apparently learned everything he knew about child care from Human television. Kya had told him, quite sternly, that baby Sangheili didn't drink cows' milk…they consumed the half-digested food that their caregivers regurgitated for them. At this announcement, N'tho had turned a peculiar shade of blue and bolted off.

Piro, thankfully, had stepped in, and after feeding Shae, he had explained to Kya that N'tho had been raised by his uncles in a little camp in the mountains, where the only playmates he had were other young males. N'tho was therefore surprisingly innocent of the realities of family life.

Nitro subsequently volunteered for "any duty except feeding" and was put to work bathing Shae on a regular basis. Usze, on the other hand, managed to regurgitate very primly, quietly and with a minimum of drooling and hacking. It gave Kya a chance during the day to rest and get some food digested into her own system. What was she ever going to do when she had a second little one? She had less than two weeks to figure it out!

*-*-*-*

_Three days later – Early April 2553_

Kya's second child did not announce its arrival with egg-rocking or shell-cracking or tapping or any of the usual signs.

N'tho swore up and down that he'd checked on the egg before going to bed and everything had appeared normal. Since the egg wasn't due to hatch for over a week, nobody had been on vigil.

Instead, Kya had been awoken in the middle of the night by Private Mbeki pounding on her door, urging her to come quickly.

Her heart in her throat, Kya had thrust a loudly pipping Shae into Usze's arms and sprinted for the incubator room, where she was treated to the delightful sight of an utterly bewildered Private Doyle struggling with an armful of infant Sangheili. The little one kept thrusting her muzzle into Doyle's face, trying to coax the Marine to feed her; Doyle, on the other hand, was clearly freaked out at the sight of all those needle-like baby teeth coming towards his nose. He was holding the baby at arm's length, trying to make sure her jaws were out of range of his face, while still supporting her, because she was just a newborn after all! The end result had poor Doyle bending over backwards.

Kya laughed as she collected her second child and fed her promptly. She had no idea when the little one had hatched, or how long she had been waiting for her first meal.

By the time the child was fed, all the other Sangheili and most of the other Marines had arrived; the medical support staff did not live on base, and Private Cyr was away on leave. Cyr, therefore, missed the sight of Doyle turning green when he saw how Sangheili fed their young.

When the baby finished feeding, Kya swallowed the extra food in her throat and nuzzled her new child.

"Well?" N'tho demanded.

Kya smiled. "You have a little sister."

Perez stroked his jaw. "Shae is Usze's little sister…this is Nitro's little sister?"

Kya nodded.

"But that means…" The sergeant looked at Piro.

She expected Piro to puff out his chest and parade about like the typical stud, but instead, Piro ducked his head submissively.

"So you two are…" Perez was still trying to put it together.

"Friends," Kya supplied.

"Oh. Kay. Then," was Perez's reply.

Kya had better things to do at the moment than explain Sangheili courting and breeding to Sergeant Perez. Instead, she glanced at N'tho. "Usze had the honour of naming his little sister; you should have the same."

"Lara," N'tho answered, not even needing to think about it.

Inside, Kya cringed, knowing who the little one was named for, but she had made the offer for N'tho to choose a name and now she had to carry through. Still, she glanced at Piro, wondering if the older male would consider that name too painful.

But Piro was nodding and smiling, his eyes sparkling with joy.

He was a wonder to behold, as if his happiness invigorated him. Kya realized that even if the name Lara sent energy blades through her hearts, it would be worth it to see Piro smile like that.

"Lara," she murmured, and the little Sangheili in her arms pipped in reply.

*-*-*-*

_One month later – Early May 2553_

Kya 'Pomor opened her eyes, feeling far more rested than she should have. What time was it?

She focused on the digits of the clock beside her bed, then rubbed her eyes and read them again.

09:12 flashed back at her.

She'd last fed Lara at 3 am, Shae in the hour before that! Why weren't her young crying for their next meal?

Her young! Kya realized with a jolt that neither of the girls was curled up in front of her!

Kya sat bolt upright in bed, craned her long neck to look around the room…

…and realized, belatedly, that her back was warm.

She glanced beside her.

Piro 'Kipaz lay flat on his back next to her. Shae snuggled under his left arm, Lara under his right. All three were sound asleep and purring softly.

Kya looked down at the heartwarming sight and smiled.

She'd never actually invited Piro 'Kipaz to share her bed. Once Lara was born, Piro had simply made a point of being with his daughter as much as possible. And if Kya was feeding Lara and Shae started to fuss, Piro would simply pick up the other girl and regurgitate some food for her. Usually Kya, exhausted, would fall asleep while Piro was feeding the little ones…and he would keep doing it, napping while she slept deeply, waking up to feed the girls so she could rest. In the mornings, Kya would take the girls and meet with the Human medical team or the other Sangheili, leaving Piro asleep in her bed. Somewhere along the line they'd started to act like a proper family, though nothing had ever been said.

Kya looked down at Piro now and wondered when the older Sangheili had become so handsome.

Was she simply more charitable since he'd proven himself to be a good father, or had the last five months on Earth agreed with him? His fine scales had once been dull and crumbly; now they were lustrous and thick. He had grown some new teeth which looked very sharp indeed. There were wrinkles around his eyes and mandibles, but his physique was still that of a soldier. By the Rings, but his chest was fine to the eye! He was more wiry than muscular, as if he had not been made for raw power, but for endurance…

Kya blushed, having experienced proof of Piro's endurance firsthand.

It was only natural, she told herself. They shared the same bed, and Piro might be old, but he was far from dead. They had natural urges and attractive members of the opposite gender within arm's reach. It was simply to be expected that from time to time they would slip next door to Piro's room for a little mutual satisfaction.

Not to mention the fact that there were no mates for either of them outside their common bed, not on this planet anyway.

So why did she waste countless hours dwelling on these odd feelings she had, instead of simply marveling at her girls? Sometimes she caught herself sniping at Piro, as though her subconscious wanted to fight with him, but Piro was always so patient and even-tempered. He never rose to her bait. Other times she realized she was staring at him, and he pretended not to notice unless she reached out for him.

She felt unattractive sometimes, because he never initiated mating—he always waited for her to ask. And yet she felt comfortable around him precisely because he never asked, never pressured her, never seemed to expect anything save her company. He treated her favours like a…like a gift.

And he was good to her, and sometimes she thought she might perhaps come to care for him, until he began to cry out Lela'ra's name.

Over and over gain those moments forced her to remember that the sex between them was as casual as that she'd had with her fellow medical personnel on _Shadow of Intent_, or her youthful breeding, or her occasional one-night stands with the warriors.

He was in love with his dead bondmate and she…

...Kya 'Pomor began to fear that her fantasy warrior had a name, and that name was Piro 'Kipaz.


	8. Chapter 8: What Once Was Lost

**Mercenary Hearts**

**Chapter the Eighth: What Once Was Lost**

_Mid-May 2553_

Kya paced restlessly around her quarters while Piro, seated on the bed, finished feeding the children. She was struggling once again with that frustrating cocktail of emotions that Piro always seemed to evoke in her lately. Why was her deep gratitude for the old warrior's generosity intermingled with a desire to fight with him and drive him away?

Both fed, Lara and Shae nestled in Piro's arms and cuddled close to him. Their eyes blinked sleepily.

"My daughters," Piro crooned, "my lovely girls."

Kya let her simmering irritation spill out. "Shae is not your daughter," she snapped.

Piro's head whipped around. He clutched Usze's sister protectively to his chest and, to Kya's utter astonishment, _hissed _at her. "Do you mean to tell me," he said, his voice quiet and even, his usual lyrical voice flattened into a steady tone, "that you will only permit me to tend the daughter I sired?"

Kya folded her arms and huffed. "It is strange enough that you insist on mothering your own daughter. What possible interest can you have in a child that is not biologically yours?"

Piro's hiss became an outright snarl. Kya blinked, shocked, and it seemed that in the split second her eyes were closed, Piro went from sitting on the bed to standing right in front of her, invading her personal space with his muzzle pressed against hers. His mandibles overlapped hers in a dominating gesture. His elbows poked her sharply in the chest, for he still held Shae cradled in his arms.

When he spoke, his voice was still soft and calm, despite the raging fury in his eyes. Kya realized that the quiet assurance in his words did not mean that Piro did not feel passionately about what he was saying—he'd used the same tone of voice back on _Shadow of Intent_ when he, N'tho, and Usze had fought the corrupt Shipmaster Epse 'Gamul, Blademaster Toha 'Sumai, and Gamul's two lackeys. Piro was a man who did not feel the need to yell or threaten or bluster; he spoke his intentions and then made them come to pass. Kya realized that anyone who underestimated Piro's will to enact those statements simply because they were not bellowed at full volume did so at their peril.

And now, Piro was using that deadly quiet voice on her as he said, "I will not allow Shae to be treated as lesser than Lara solely due to the circumstances of her parentage."

Kya was taken aback by Piro's vehemence on the subject. She stumbled away from him; her knees clipped the edge of a chair and she sat down heavily as Piro loomed over her.

On the bed, Lara, apparently feeling abandoned, began to pip for attention. Piro turned away from Kya and scooped up the other girl, cradling them one in each arm. Lara pressed her muzzle against her father's snout; on the other side, Shae did the same. Piro sat on the bed, purring quietly to the hatchlings. He appeared to have no interest in driving home his point by punishing Kya, or by threatening to punish her.

"I don't understand," Kya said quietly.

Piro looked away from the girls and towards her.

"I won't stop you," she said hastily. "If you really want to act as father to both of them…I won't stop you." She hung her head. "I just do not understand why you would desire such a thing."

Piro tilted his head. "Because most Sangheili males barely bother with their own young?" The lethal calm was gone from his voice, and his usual lyrical speech pattern had returned.

Kya nodded. "And because most Sangheili value their own bloodline more than a stranger's."

"You are not a stranger," Piro said gently, "and Shae is your blood as much as Lara. Usze, Shae's brother, is not a stranger either."

Kya licked her lips. "Gita tells me this situation is common among the Humans. They use the prefix "step" to indicate a non-blood-relative who nevertheless fills a family role. Should I describe you as Shae's stepfather?"

Piro snorted. "N'tho tells me the Humans also have a situation called "adoption," a ceremony in which a non-related child can be made a heir in the eyes of the law." His gaze bit into Kya's. "I would make Shae my own child."

Kya shook her head in sheer bewilderment. "Why? Why is simply acting as her father not enough?"

Piro hissed and bristled, but when he spoke, his voice was sad as he said, "Because I know what it is for a child to feel unwanted due to factors beyond its control."

Kya sucked in her breath, suddenly aware she'd stumbled in to a very personal quagmire. She had no right to ask this question of Piro.

"And now I must explain myself," Piro continued.

"No," Kya replied hastily. "It is none of my concern and…"

"Are we family or not?" the old Sangheili demanded.

She looked at him helplessly, looked at the two girls in his arms, and nodded in defeat. Her children had a father, and their father should not be a stranger to her.

Piro began to speak, and the little Sangheili lay their heads on his shoulders and let his voice carry them into sleep.

I was the first child born to a young mother in the state of Rolam. Rolam is a small city-state on the edge of the eastern desert, and regularly has problems with drought, so while it brings in great wealth from its mines, it squanders much of that wealth in feeding its population. My mother's family were one of the few who tried to irrigate the sandy soil and bring forth crops, with only some success.

For the first two years of my life, I was well off enough. But then my mother succeeded in raising her social status by marrying a war veteran, a hero famous for his actions during the Sixteenth Unggoy Disobedience. They promptly had an egg and once it hatched, revealing a son and heir, my mother's husband had no time at all for his wife's first child.

I do not know whether my mother feared losing the attention of her husband or whether my half-brother was truly more loveable than I. All I know is that during the next four years, my mother gave her husband two daughters. At the table, my half-brother received the lion's share of the food, my half-sisters fair portions, and I was fed the scraps they left behind. My half-brother wore fine clothes, and I wore his cast-offs, though they were too small for me and usually torn or stained. My half-siblings received all my mother's attention, while I eventually ceased to speak entirely, for I knew my words would be ignored.

I was never outright abused…never beaten, never sent to bed with an empty belly, never locked away…I was simply ignored, receiving the minimum of care required to keep me alive. But such neglect took its toll, and I grew sickly, having little motivation to go on living, having nothing to fight for.

I suspect I would have died in that place had not the Spot Man come.

I called him the Spot Man because I had never seen a Sangheili like him before. Many of our kind have speckles, or striping, or pale undersides, but this man had a perfect black spot ringing his right eye. The Spot Man argued with my mother while I hid underneath my cot; their loud voices frightened me. Then my mother's husband came home and, much to my astonishment, agreed with the Spot Man. My mother voiced an objection and the Spot Man gave her money.

Then he came for me.

He hauled me out from under the bunk by the scruff of my neck. The Spot Man put me in a vehicle and we drove away.

I never saw my mother, her mate, or my half-siblings again.

I was terrified of the Spot Man, and hid under a ragged blanket that I found in the back of the vehicle. We drove for a while, and then he stopped the machine. He dragged me out from under the blanket and fed me a rich stew that made me sick. I retched and retched onto the ground, feeling miserable and wishing I would die.

The Spot Man held me and, after my heaving had subsided, tried to put a tube into my throat.

I was weak and ill and demoralized, but this was one indignity too many. I flared my mandibles and sank my fangs into the Spot Man's wrist. I clamped down with all my strength and cut him open to the bone.

He roared and released me. I darted under the vehicle. I wanted to make a run for the forest, but I was too sick and my legs would not support me. I curled up beneath the machine instead and crouched there for a while.

Then the Spot Man put his good arm under the vehicle, seized my ankle, and pulled me out.

He had bandaged his wrist. He gripped me firmly and pried my mandibles open again. This time he overcame me. The tube went into my throat and he gave me some water. I swallowed, and much to my surprise, he stroked my back and crooned soothing sounds to me. He gave me only a little before he took the tube out, murmuring something about malnutrition and digestive problems. I stared at him, and he licked my face, and then he put me back in the car.

We drove some more. This time I left my head sticking out of the blanket.

The next time we stopped, he offered me more water with a straw, and I took it willingly.

The motion of the car lulled me to sleep. When I awoke, I was in a house, in a big bed. The Spot Man was standing over me with a mug of soup. I slurped down the soup, rolled over in the bed—the biggest, softest bed I'd ever imagined—and returned to sleep.

I awoke again to find the Spot Man nesting with me.

I could barely remember nesting with my mother, but I recalled enough to know that it had been good. It had been nice, in the days before my mother's husband and my half-siblings. I curled into the Spot Man's side and slept some more.

In the morning, the Spot Man gave me a small chunk of dried meat. After I ate, he put me in a big tub and got in himself to clean me. He was covered in spots all over, which made me stare. When we were both washed, he dressed me in a robe which was a bit too big for me but was still the nicest clothing I could recall, and then he sat me on his couch to tell me some things.

The Spot Man said that his name was Rek'i 'Kipazee. Rek'i had been a warrior until he had developed a lung disease that had shattered his ability to exert himself physically for any long amount of time. He made his living on the homeworld programming computer systems, where he could sit while he worked and did not need to strain his body. He told me the keep he lived in was called Kipaz.

Then Rek'i asked my name.

I do not recall, now, if I had forgotten my name, or if I had lost the ability to speak it, or if I deliberately did not want Rek'i to know it. I do recall that the only answer I gave him was a lowering of my head in the negative.

And I remember very clearly what Rek'i said to me.

He told me that it did not matter what my name had been, for it would never be used again. He said that from that day forth, I should consider him my uncle, for I would be living in Kipaz with him.

And from the ancient Sangheili word meaning "to endure," he named me Piro.

Kya found herself stunned by the enormity of Piro's tale.

She had been rejected by her family for her crimes. They had cast her out because she was a convicted thief branded with a Mark of Punishment. Little Piro, though, had done nothing to deserve his treatment.

"Was Rek'i a good caregiver to you?" she asked at last.

"He was the finest." Piro chuckled. "Even when the first words I re-learned to speak were a question about why he had so many spots."

Kya smiled. "What did he tell you?"

"He said they were a hereditary trait, but that they did not show in every generation or in every member of the family. I learned later that the name Rek'i comes from the ancient word for "dappled.""

Kya stood up and hesitantly reached out for Lara. Piro obligingly passed her the baby. Kya put first Lara, then Shae, into their cot where they nested together. Then she sat next to Piro on the bed.

The old warrior looked at her questioningly. She tentatively laid her head on his shoulder.

He put her arm around her. She was forgiven, it seemed. He had never intended malice; he had only wanted to defend his young.

Kya took a deep breath. "What do we need to do for this "adoption" to occur?"

Piro rumbled contentedly. "I believe it is as simple as a series of statements before a Human court."

"Can you make arrangements?"

"I will ask Usze." He bunted her. "Is this acceptable for you?"

"Yes." She leaned more heavily against him. "I think Shae can only benefit from a father who loves her as you do." To call him Shae's father seemed strange, but also right somehow, and she had no doubt she would quickly grow accustomed to it.

Piro nuzzled her. "I hope only to be as fine a parent as Rek'i. I refuse to ever be the sort of man my mother's husband was."

"I understand now," Kya said quietly. "Thank you for telling me."

"Well, we are family," Piro said. He seemed to be thinking about something.

"Your mother…" 'Pomor began, then paused as she reconsidered her phrasing.

"You do not understand how a mother could cease to love her own child?"

Kya smirked bitterly. "Oh, that I understand. My own mother had no use for me once I received the Mark of Punishment. I went from her favourite child to nothing but garbage."

Piro's mandibles quivered with shared pain and he took her hand in his and squeezed tightly.

Kya found herself taken aback at the sudden tenderness. She felt guilty for not doing the same for Piro while he told his story; in truth, it had never crossed her mind. She had been so long without the comfort of others that it had not occurred to her that such a gesture might be appropriate…desired…

…_nice_ for her to do. Something to show she cared about Piro.

Did she…?

Of course. Of course she ought to care for the father of her children.

She ought to care for her _friend._

There was nothing weak or foolish about caring for one's friends, was there?

Piro evidently didn't think so because he was holding her hand and bunting her with his muzzle, making the same soothing sssss sound he used to calm the children.

So Kya squeezed his hand in return and nuzzled him. Piro purred. Kya realized, with surprise, that she was purring as well and she allowed them to sit quietly together for a while, even after she had her words assembled.

Finally, she spoke. "I had intended to say, you never saw your mother again?"

"No," Piro said, "though Rek'i asked me if I would like to visit before I went away to the War Academy. I told him no thank you. I said that if my mother had treated me so shabbily—if she had let Rek'i raise me from age six to ten and she had not bothered to contact me in all that time—then I was clearly nothing to her, and it would be a waste of my time and heartache to chase after her. She had known where I had been and she had done nothing. Rek'i nodded and said he agreed with me, but he had wanted the choice to be mine. He had, however, insisted on telling me that she was of the Rolam keep and some additional bloodline details, to ensure that in the future, I would not accidentally breed with someone who was, unknown to me, my relative." He shrugged his free shoulder casually, though his arm tightened around her. "I had a caregiver who loved me with an unquestionable devotion. That, in the end, is what mattered."

"Our daughters are fortunate indeed," Kya murmured, "for they have such devotion in both mother and father."

She could only hope she might someday find a mate with that sort of devotion…but that was a fantasy, surely. She would not find such a man on Earth. Piro had already found himself a woman to love, and her name was Lela'ra.


	9. Chapter 9: This Is Our Land

**Author's Note:**I'd like to thank everyone who's supported this story so far. It makes me feel good to know that others enjoy reading as much as I enjoy writing.

**Mercenary Hearts**

**Chapter the Ninth: This Is Our Land**

_July 2553_

It had been difficult to conceal the arrival of _Abundant Plenty _from Usze and N'tho. Thankfully, invoking Rtas' name had apparently convinced the Humans that the trip was meant as a "surprise" for Usze—and N'tho as well. But as _Abundant Plenty_ touched down at the designated Human airbase, Shayya 'Taham could not help but feel her stomach twist with anxiety.

She knew Usze, her favourite son, had been seriously wounded. She knew he was mating with someone called N'tho 'Sraom, who, according to her crew, was a lothario and Shamed One.

If Usze was earning his keep by stooping for this 'Sraom person, Shayya intended to put a stop to it. She had a team of young warriors on board which she was not afraid to use, no matter what the Humans had to say about it. Two of them were positioned behind her, one at each shoulder, when she descended on the gravity lift.

Since Shayya had kept their arrival a secret, so as not to warn this 'Sraom that Usze's family was coming for their son, she did not expect to see any Sangheili at the base waiting for them. Much to her surprise, an older warrior in the red armour of a Major Domo was standing in a cluster of Human marines.

"Greetings, and welcome to the planet Earth," the Sangheili said, lowering his head in the traditional gesture of respect. "My name is Major Domo Piro 'Kipaz and I am the, ah, the honour guard for the Sangheili Ambassadors to Earth."

Shayya heard one of her young warriors snort behind her. "Some guard," he muttered to his fellow. "He's twice my age if he's a day."

Shayya did not dare reprimand the warrior now, though she made a note to speak to him about self-discipline later. What was his name? Khorr. Khorr 'Refumee…no, 'Refum. She had to get used to using names without suffixes, even for warriors.

"Greetings, Piro 'Kipaz. I am Shayya 'Taham of the state of 'Taham." She bowed to him and he returned the gesture.

"As you requested," Piro said, "the Ambassadors are elsewhere, and your arrival will be a surprise. Since they are currently indisposed, may I offer you a tour of our home here on Earth?"

It had taken a while for Shayya to disentangle herself from Piro 'Kipaz. She had felt it necessary to join Piro and the Marines on a tour of the base and its surrounding environs, both as a matter of politeness and as a practical orientation. When Shayya went looking for Usze, she wanted to have an idea of where she was going and what hazards she might face. She already knew that this part of Earth was a lot colder than the state of Taham, particularly at night.

The ship's crew had remained on board _Abundant Plenty_, and the Shipmaster stayed with the Human authorities to discuss care of the vessel, but Tesli and the four bodyguards had also come on the tour. Tesli was fascinated by the scenery, despite the fact that he'd been on alien worlds before. Earth was just so _bizarre_. Shayya loved to see her husband so excited, and wished that she could join in the fun, but she was finding it difficult to concentrate. She was too concerned about Usze, and N'tho.

At the end of the tour, Shayya asked Piro where she could find Usze. Piro raised his comm link and transmitted; Shayya's heart wrenched when she heard Usze's voice respond.

"Usze is in the park," Piro said, pointing out on a map where the park in question was located. Part public garden, part open ground, the park was a mixture of trails and flowerbeds at one end and a field for play at the other. "And might I add," Piro said, "it was a challenge to get him off the base, and I cannot guarantee that he might not have seen or heard _Abundant Plenty_ on its approach."

Shayya licked her mandibles and asked, "And is N'tho with him?"

Piro looked surprised. "Oh, that is right, you would not have met his mate yet, have you?"

The old male commed Usze again, but Shayya felt her blood ice when Piro said, "Is my son there?"

Shayya could not understand Usze's reply, but Piro squinted at her in a smile and said, "N'tho is working on a vehicle in the garage. He will wish to get cleaned up before he comes to greet you."

The news that Piro and N'tho were father and son did not change her intent to remove Usze from N'tho's control. She was concerned, though, that she might not just be facing 'Sraom himself. She had seen how close Piro was with his Human associates, and that meant she might have to ask her four guards to fight their way through N'tho and Piro and the Humans.

But she would do it if she had to.

She would do anything for her son.

Shayya 'Taham's heart wrenched as she caught sight of the figure downslope through the grove of apple trees. She took a deep breath, then stepped off the path and concealed herself behind a tree. She was not ready to face her son quite yet. First, she wanted to have an opportunity to come to terms with his new reality.

Usze 'Taham navigated the meadow at the bottom of the hill with the aid of a crutch. Her son, who had once moved like a dancer with his blade, now lurched along, leaning heavily on the stick for support. Finally he eased himself down onto a bench, letting out a whuff as he fell several inches onto his hindquarters. He stretched out his left leg and rubbed the thigh, as though it ached.

How could Usze have come to this end?

Shayya longed to fold him in her arms, but she knew what would happen when she did. She knew he would just stand there stiffly, his arms at his side, his face turned away. The Ascetics had taught him not to respond to gestures of affection. Before they had begun to train him, he had hugged her back and laughed…once he'd started working with them, he'd changed into a cold old man in a boy's body.

But she loved him still.

She could not understand what force was keeping him alive with such a debilitating injury. It was clear to everyone he'd never fight again. Was it a thirst for vengeance that drove him on? Stubbornness? That horrible Ascetic ideal that no sane creature could ever achieve?

Shayya moved out from behind the tree. She was drawing in breath to call his name when she noticed the roar of an approaching engine. She barely ducked back behind the tree in time to conceal herself before a Warthog came barreling over the hill, catching air. It landed and bounced, its back end skidding about, before it braked to a halt a few paces from Usze's bench. Shayya saw the head of a male Sangheili poke up between the cagelike bars at the top of the vehicle.

"Check out my sweet ride!" the other male said, leaning out the passenger window. He pointed to the lettering on the side of the vehicle.

Shayya had learned a smattering of English from the warriors on the ship. The Covenant had forced all the Sangheili soldiers to learn the language of their enemies so that they might taunt them in their own tongue, for further humiliation. It was also effective when Sangheili could read Human battle plans and understand Human communications. Shayya sounded out the unfamiliar words written on N'tho's vehicle.

WORT-HOG

She didn't understand what it meant, but Usze clearly did. His cheeks slowly turned bright purple.

N'tho hopped out of the machine and grinned at Usze. "Do you like it?" he asked hopefully.

Usze burst out laughing. "By the Rings, N'tho, do you have no shame?" He laughed until his whole face was purplish. "Does it…does it have problems with the suspension?" he choked out at last.

"Not _yet_," N'tho replied. "We could fix that though."

Shayya watched in stunned disbelief as Usze held out his arms, the way he had done to Shayya when he was just a toddler. This other warrior, this N'tho, clambered out of the Warthog and ran into Usze's embrace. Right in front of the bench, N'tho went down on his knees in the dirt, so Usze did not have to rise from his seat to hug him. Shayya's eyes widened as the powerful young warrior folded his arms around Usze's waist and tucked his mandibles submissively under Usze's.

Usze folded his arms around his mate's shoulders and ran his tongue over the top of his mate's head. N'tho squinted his eyes and purred loudly.

"'Sraom, do you expect me to go for a ride in that ridiculous Warthog?"

"Well, you could take me for a ride_ in_ that ridiculous Warthog…" N'tho offered, "Or, ah, _out _of it."

Usze smirked. "Yes, I seem to recall that I have yet to pay you back for a certain incident involving a Warthog during our first visit to this fine planet…."

"I accept whatever punishment you deem fit, sir." But N'tho's eyes were shining, as though he were looking forward to this so-called punishment.

"Poor N'tho." Usze began to lick his face. "To begin, you'll be spending the next week warming my half of the bed for me…"

Shayya blushed, feeling guilty for spying and hearing her son flirting with his mate.

This wasn't the relationship Shayya had been expecting. Usze wasn't a reluctant subordinate to N'tho at all. If anything, N'tho appeared to be the subordinate one…and loving every second of it from the sound of things.

By the Ancestors. Could it be that Usze actually cared for this N'tho?

'Sraom was looking up at Usze with an expression of complete adoration. Had she not heard Usze call this Sangheili N'tho 'Sraom, Shayya would not believe that this was the same individual Shipmaster 'Konar had called the fleet's slut.

Shayya tried to step forward to introduce herself and found that she could not. There was no way she could interrupt her son's happiness, not when the smile on his face was growing wider with every passing second, not when she had been so afraid that he might never smile again.

But when N'tho's headdress hit the ground, Shayya realized that she needed to either speak up or take her leave, lest she find herself watching a very private moment between her son and his mate.

Smiling, Shayya 'Taham turned and headed back the way she had came, realizing her mission was already complete before it had even begun.

Shayya entered the main meeting room aboard _Abundant Plenty_, where Tesli 'Taham, Shipmaster 'Konar, and Sa 'Firog, the young Aristocrat who headed their security team, were speaking together about possible plans to extract Usze and leave the planet Earth. There were several contingency plans on charts about the ship, including a situation where the Humans opposed their leaving with Usze and they chose to shoot their way out.

Shayya strode into the room and took her place on the fourth side of their conference table. All three heads turned to regard her.

"You will leave Usze and N'tho 'Sraom be," Shayya said. Her gaze was firm as she regarded Shipmaster 'Konar and his crew. "I place my blessing on this union."

"Shayya," Tesli 'Taham murmured, "are you certain? So soon?"

Shayya nodded firmly. "I have not heard my son laugh in twenty years," she said quietly. "This…N'tho…whatever he may be, he has made Usze _happy_."

Tesli looked down at the morass of planning and preparation and analysis spread across the boardroom table, and laughed.

"Excellent," Tesli said. "Let us abandon this talk of suffering and desperation, and instead go forth as ambassadors of good will."

Kya 'Pomor awoke from a mid-day nap feeling strange. She was still tired, but she could not sleep. Her whole body shivered with nervous anticipation, though her conscious mind could not think of anything she might be waiting for. Her movements felt languid, as though her body were made of thick syrup, and her senses were hypersensitive. Rolling over and stretching herself in her bed, savouring the softness of the mattress, the scent of the pillowcase—it was deliciously indulgent, and she wanted more. She wanted to be fed rich cheeses, to lounge about listening to soft music and nuzzling in the decadent warmth of…

…She wanted Piro in here…

…by the Ancestors, there were so many things she wanted to do with Piro right now, and none of them were appropriate for public!

Kya sat bolt upright in shock as she realized the reason for her sudden lustful urges.

How could she be in season again so soon?

Gita had taught her the perfect expression for this moment:

_Shit!_

Kya was a medic. How could she have failed to notice the signs of heat in her own body? She had somehow spent every waking moment thinking about her children and her job and…

_Piro_

…her friends that she'd never given it a second thought that she'd left her suppression medication behind on the Fleet.

Birth control wasn't exactly illegal on Sanghelios, but it was a social taboo anyway. It wasn't illegal to be a layabout or a drunk, either, but any family that had a layabout son would kick him out onto the street where he could either start to work for a living or die in the gutter, and a drunken Sangheili would inevitably meet the same fate as the layabout, if he wasn't torn to pieces by his own coworkers for causing an accident. It was a similar social shame for a family to have a female member who used birth control to avoid laying eggs, or took medicine to suppress her desire to mate.

Female Sangheili, by law, only needed to mate once, every other year. But a well nourished female was physically capable of laying twice a year, sometimes more than one egg per nest. The law allowed for less given the facts that professional females needed to devote time to running society, not just bearing young, and that it was damaging to the body to lay fertile eggs twice a year for the forty or fifty years that most Sangheili women were able to make young. In a society of constant warfare, though, it was an admirable thing to produce the next generation of soldiers and support staff, and so many female Sangheili laid more often, and using chemical means to avoid eggs was a shameful thing to do.

Medical staff, however, were shamed anyway. They also had knowledge of Sangheili physiology and knew what herbs produced what drugs. They found it far more satisfying to take birth control, both males and females, and then mate as they pleased than to force themselves into celibacy for fear of seeing their young put to death for their parents' shame. And Kya, after seeing her fertile eggs smashed, quickly came to agree. On the Fleet, she had taken both a pill to avoid having eggs, and a tea that helped her avoid the symptoms of heat.

Unfortunately, due to the Halo events changing _Shadow of Intent's _intended flight plan, _Shadow _had not docked at the Sangheili space colony Prospere, where the medical staff had hoped to acquire the herbs needed to make more pills. The medical staff had run out. She had continued to drink the suppressing tea, so she had not known she was coming into heat when Toha 'Sumai had raped her.

And so, she had wound up here on Earth, pregnant with Toha 'Sumai's child. But that was not so bad—she had wanted children and a safe place to raise them. And she had received another daughter from Piro 'Kipaz.

Now, though…

Another child might not be so bad. Her daughters were a handful, but she was not raising them alone. But who would sire her third hatchling? N'tho and Usze were still married and still out of bounds, and they probably always would be, for she had come to care for them as friends and family members, and she did not want to intrude upon their love. And Piro… It was Sangheili tradition for unmarried and unbonded females to breed with as many different males as possible, to increase the mixture of genetic traits.

But where would she find another available male on Earth?

There was a knocking on the door, startling from her thoughts and stirring the girls in their crib. Kya rose from her bed to open the door.

It was Piro.

In the crib, Shae started to wail in earnest while Lara kept up an energetic pipping. Piro nodded a greeting and then pushed past her to see to Shae. The little female hushed at once when "Papa" Piro held her to his chest.

And he was her father, now, in the eyes of Human law. Kya had noticed the adoption certificate hanging in a frame on Piro's wall.

Kya lifted Lara to her shoulder and wondered if Piro could smell her heat. She might not be emitting pheromones just yet, she thought as Piro did not seem to be aware of her impending season.

"We have a dinner to attend tonight," Piro murmured. "All of us."

Kya raised an eye ridge. "Someone wants Sangheili young at a state dinner? Do they know how we feed?"

Piro chuckled. "The guests of honour are not human," he said with a smile.

Kya felt her hearts beat faster.

"Shae is to meet her namesake tonight," Piro continued. He nuzzled the child and she giggled.

"Usze's mother?" Kya gasped. "Usze's mother is here?"

Piro's eyes squinted as he smiled. "Yes, with her husband, Tesli 'Taham, a squad of warriors and the crew of their transport, _Abundant Plenty_."

_Eligible males._

Kya doubted that Piro would be smiling so broadly if he knew why she was so interested in going to dinner with Shayya and Tesli 'Taham—and their crew.

Or, on second thought, perhaps he wouldn't mind. Perhaps he wouldn't care at all, and somehow, selfishly, that thought was more terrible to Kya than the notion that she might be about to break his heart.


	10. Chapter 10: Something Like Sorrow

**Mercenary Hearts**

**Chapter the Tenth: Something Like Sorrow**

Shayya 'Taham sat in the centre of the head table in the formal dining room of the Officer's Mess with Tesli beside her. Her crew were interspersed among the three other tables, along with the Human personnel who worked closely with the Sangheili on Earth, and the other two Sangheili who lived on this planet: Piro 'Kipaz and a medic called Kya 'Pomor. Her mouth was dry as she waited for the last two guests who would sit beside herself and Tesli at the head table.

Shayya craned her long neck, for she heard movement in the hall.

"I didn't know anything about it," came a boisterous voice, "until Dad commed me."

"I really must talk to our administrators about these scheduling issues," replied another voice in a disapproving tone that Shayya knew well. "Who are we to be meeting?"

"Don't know," the other person answered, "but Dad said it was really important and…"

Two figures appeared in the doorway, dressed in matching cream-coloured armour with open-faced helmets. The smaller was leaning on a cane.

Shayya rose from the head table to greet her son.

And Usze—she could see his face, for he had abandoned the closed Assault helmet he customarily wore—Usze's mismatched eyes both widened and his mandibles gaped with shock.

His companion, doubtlessly N'tho, was regarding him curiously. Usze murmured something in his ear and N'tho's expression turned to one of surprise as well.

Usze limped up the stairs, pressing his mandibles together as he drove himself as fast as he could manage. Shayya stood in front of him, suddenly nervous. He did not stop until he was right in front of her…

…and then he hugged her, here, in the middle of the formal dining room, in front of everyone.

"Mother," he murmured in her earbud, and Shayya thought her hearts might burst of joy.

When the hug ended, Shayya saw N'tho peering at her shyly from behind Usze's back. "Hi, Uzi's mom," he said timidly, offering her his hand.

And she hugged him as well. By the Rings, he was handsome and powerful and built like a kaidon! He put his muzzle against her neck and returned the embrace as though he were one of her own sons.

And, she thought as he released her, as she saw how Usze looked at him when he said, "May I present my mate and husband, N'tho 'Sraom," she might very soon come to think of him that way.

#

After the dinner, the Sangheili and humans circulated, getting to know one another. As Usze stood talking with N'tho and Tesli, Shayya took it upon herself to get to know the young medic who had saved Usze's life.

Kya tried to behave in the quiet, submissive manner that was expected of a Sangheili medic, but as Shayya continued to reach out to her with kindness, Kya opened up and told Shayya a little about herself, including her work on Earth, her new life with the Humans, and her daughters.

Shayya took a deep breath and smiled at Kya knowingly. "You are in season," she said.

Kya blushed. "Yes…I am hoping some arrangements can be made in that regard."

Shayya nodded at Piro, who had one little Sangheili in his arms and was offering the other to Rashid Youssef to hold. "Is he your male?"

Kya felt a wild impulse to say _yes_, but she was not a liar. "He is the father of my daughter…my daughters," she said carefully, "but we are not consorts, no."

Shayya smiled broadly. "Then you will be seeking for a mate among the males of my crew?"

"With your permission," Kya said carefully, "and the permission of your husband and your Shipmaster."

"I do not think that will be a problem," Shayya replied. "There are only four males who are off limits: my husband, one of my guards who is married, and two of our crew who, while technically available, are so involved with one another that I doubt you will get far." She winked knowingly.

"That still leaves many options open," Kya answered, her mouth suddenly dry with anticipation.

"Indeed, and we have a lovely breeding chamber aboard which I would be honoured to share with you."

Kya felt her mandibles flare in surprise. Was this wealthy, classy Sangheili honestly offering to share her facilities with the likes of Kya? "You…do know that I am a medic, do you not?"

Shayya folded her arms. "From what I have heard this evening, you were instrumental in saving my son's life. Furthermore…" She lowered her voice. "Usze tells me that he shares a father with little Shae." She reached out and took Kya's hand. "I am honoured to have your child bear my name."

Kya stared at the beautiful matron, and Shayya gazed meaningfully into her eyes. "I…had a difficult experience, conceiving Usze. If you had the same, then we have much in common."

And Kya, understanding, squeezed back.

"We are both survivors, my lady Shayya."

Shayya smiled again. "The old ways are changing, and it is my pleasure to be at the vanguard of that change. My hospitality is open to you, Kya 'Pomor, now and always, just as it is to N'tho and his father."

Kya felt stung at the mention of Piro. She had to get the old man out of her mind, and quickly, or she would meet the same fate as he—wasting the rest of her life clinging to memories of a long-lost happiness that would never come again.

#

_The next morning_

"Dad. _Dad_," N'tho called.

Piro blinked, realizing his son was trying to get his attention, and turned around. Shae and Lara saw their brother and began to squirm in Piro's arms.

There was no word for _dad_ in the Sangheili language. It had the formal word for _father_, the formal word for _uncle_, and _da_, a word which had no English equivalent and meant an affectionate, informal, childish word for a beloved uncle and mentor. Piro supposed that _da_ was as close as the Sangheili language came to a word for _daddy_.

N'tho had no sooner found out that Piro was his biological father than he began addressing Piro with the human word _dad_, and Piro was still getting accustomed to it, though he privately liked it.

"When are you going to ask me to baby-sit, hm?" N'tho tilted his head, grinning. "Or did you get some of the Humans to do it?"

Piro frowned. "No…" he said slowly, wondering why N'tho thought he needed someone else to care for his daughters. He and Kya had no plans, did they?

N'tho examined him critically and frowned. "Then I better start now so you can go slap some fresh paint on that faded armour."

Piro let his adult son take the girls, but he did not understand why N'tho—who was usually as casual as he was permitted to be—would care about the wear on Piro's armour. "My armour is just fine."

"Dad, the Marines said that women are picky about things like that and Tesli's crew agreed that our women aren't any different. If you're going to a breeding chamber, you have to look good." Nitro nudged him in the ribs with his elbow, grinning all the while.

"Breeding chamber?" Piro mouthed dumbly as his stomach sank inside him. Kya had said nothing about that to him.

"Yeah. Shayya and Tesli have one on their ship and Kya's on her way over there now, you lucky bastard. Shayya said she'd give Kya a gown and everything."

Piro tuned out as N'tho rattled on, feeling sick and dizzy and disoriented and suddenly _detached_, as though he were standing outside himself watching his son inadvertently sicken an old man with a careless presumption.

N'tho finally, mercifully, ran out of things to say except for "You two are lucky, Uzi and I would _love _a night in a fancy place like that."

And Piro tumbled back into his body, and the waves of nausea swept over him once again as he imagined his Kya on her knees for a stranger.

N'tho raised his eye ridges and grinned.

"Whoever said I was invited?" Piro snapped at his son.

N'tho's face fell in obvious surprise. "But…I thought…"

"No. You _assumed_," Piro said, and because it felt so good to let all the rage and confusion and pain he was feeling out of his gut and into the open air, he let his mouth go somewhere it never should have gone. He reached out and reclaimed his daughters. "By the Ancestors, N'tho, you of all people should know that just because someone invites you to a fuck in their bed doesn't mean they have any intention of letting you stay there permanently."

N'tho's boisterous exuberance vanished, and not like a balloon deflating or the slow leak of air from a spaceship. No, this was more like a catastrophic explosion, something shattering in a split second. His mandibles froze in mid-grin but there was no smile in his eyes. His eyes were those of a loyal animal whose master had beaten it anyway.

Piro saw that look and cursed himself for what he'd done.

His son stared at him, as if he'd never seen him before, and then slowly turned and stumbled away.

And Piro, knowing full well he'd crossed the line, knowing that remark hadn't been fair and hadn't been right and wondering _what the hell he'd been thinking—or _not thinking_—_Piro couldn't even force himself to speak long enough to call him back and apologize.

#

Kya was shocked at her own behaviour.

She was seated on an embroidered couch in the lounge aboard _Abundant Plenty _and she had more male attention than she could handle.

The lounge itself was gorgeous. Shayya 'Taham had spared nothing in showing her gratitude for Kya's role in saving Usze's life. Platters with bite-size portions of Sangheili delicacies—foods Kya had thought she'd never taste again—sat on low tables next to drinks suspended in delicate warming devices, small works of art, and utensils that had been intricately crafted from precious metals. In her younger days, Kya would have had her pockets and sleeves full of valuables already, and though she had no intention of stealing now from the 'Tahams, old habits died hard enough that she had worked out how to do it if she wanted to.

Of course, the real prize was already hers for the taking.

The captain of the 'Tahams' bodyguards, the young aristocrat named Sa 'Firog, was seated on her left hand side, licking her neck.

Another one of the guards, an impossibly handsome warrior who introduced himself as Khorr 'Refum, was nuzzling her cheek, and all the while, his hand traced patterns on her thigh. Occasionally just the tips of his fingers slipped into the opening of her sari, and the touch of his skin on her upper right leg made Kya bite down on her mandibles to control her rising arousal.

A third guard was feeding her delicacies off a silver platter.

And behind her, massaging her shoulders, was no less than Shipmaster 'Konar himself.

Other young males from the crew vied with one another to offer Kya drinks, or to show off their skills, or to fetch pillows or candles or other trinkets. They circled, waiting for one of the four males around her to be called away, or for her to choose one of them instead to be near her. Kya struggled not to laugh at their outrageous posturing as they struggled to catch her eye.

Kya had attempted to meet and speak with each of the interested males individually, but before long, she'd ended up here, lounging on this couch like a Priestess with her temple consorts. There were so _many _males. They all wanted her so _badly_. And none of them seemed inclined to wait for privacy when they could get their hands on her right here and right now.

The effect of all this male attention was intoxicating. Kya had always considered herself quite average-looking, but here, on a ship full of lonely males a long way from home, she was apparently a prize, and Tesli's crew was responding accordingly. Occasionally the odd female crew member would walk by and shoot a dirty glance in Kya's direction, and Kya felt a little bad to realize that she was thrilled at the notion that other females were envious of her.

Khorr nipped her shoulder, and when she turned to him, he gave her a smouldering glance and dipped his fingers under her robe again, reaching dangerously high.

She was in season and in demand and in the midst of a sexual fantasy come to life, so why, in this moment, did Khorr's emerald eyes recede from her consciousness? In her mind's eye she saw amber eyes, warm and loving, looking into hers in the moments before mating.

In the moments before Piro closed his lids and began to whisper the name of another.

Kya pushed that image away. Piro did not want a real relationship with her. She had told N'tho to tell him where she was and he had not pursued her, had not even questioned her. If he truly wanted her, he would have been on this ship right now, blade drawn and bellowing his claim to her. Piro obviously knew what her foolish hearts wished to forget—that varying her bloodline was wise—and he clearly did not care who she bred, as he had made no motion to claim her for his consort.

She deserved better than a man she fucked because he was the only single man in town. There were more single men now, and many of them wanted her. Perhaps…perhaps Piro could find one of those jealous females to fuck.

That thought made Kya sick, and she had to get rid of it. She closed her eyes, daring to lean forward and caress Khorr's muzzle with her tongue. It was brazen of her, but she had no other choice; there was no other way to erase Piro's grip on her. Even as she licked Khorr 'Refum, she prayed to gods she did not even believe in that she would not do as Piro did, and spend the night to come imagining her new mate was someone else.

Imagining her new mate was Piro 'Kipaz.

#

Piro could deal with Kya's decision

_she's not your consort she was never your consort_

in only one way. He walked through the corridors of the base with one little Sangheili girl in each arm. He had been walking for hours, until the girls fell asleep, and still he carried them, unable to let them go.

He had a family. Shae and Lara's weight in his arms provided a physical reminder of the fact. Why the hell should he care what Kya did?

And he also had a son, or rather, did if he hadn't caused irreversible damage to their relationship by the horribly cruel thing he'd said the day before.

It was past time for him to give N'tho an apology.

He'd checked the room that Usze and N'tho shared, but they weren't at home. They weren't in the garage, where N'tho's "Wort-Hog" was parked, and Usze didn't go far on that bad leg without a ride. Piro swung by the range, the mess, and the gym, which were all Sangheili-free, and decided to try the lounge next, while the two girls were still enjoying the ride in their da's arms.

The lounge acted as a sort of living room for the base personnel. There was a TV, vid player, video game console, fridge, stove, and microwave for common use. There were also a selection of comfortable chairs and couches, and it was on one of the latter that Piro found Usze and N'tho curled up together, cuddling.

Piro's relief at finding his son shriveled away as he watched N'tho purr, nuzzling Usze's neck. 'Taham squinted his eyes and sponged N'tho's cheek with his tongue; N'tho's purr grew even louder, and his hands trailed over Usze's chest.

Piro was about to ask Nitro if he and Usze had to be so cuddly in public when he realized what he was doing and bit down on his mandibles. He had no business criticizing his son for being in love.

Nitro had been barely out of War College before he'd been branded with a Mark of Punishment. The crime had not been his own. N'tho's grandfather Uz 'Sraom had committed a cowardly retreat, and the death sentence had been levied not only on Uz but on all his surviving children and grandchildren, save the warriors. The warriors, like N'tho, had been branded instead, condemned to die as cannon fodder in the attempt to reclaim their honour.

Nitro had not died. He had remarkable skill and courage, and along with a little luck, he had persevered. But the stigma of the brand cast a shadow over his military career. He was neglected by some, bullied by others, and out of a desperate loneliness he'd taken to mating with any male who looked twice at him.

How long had Piro wished that Nitro would stop his casual matings and settle down with a loving partner who cared for him? How many nights had Piro feared that, because of N'tho's brand, no decent male would be brave enough to accept the loss of face that would come with a relationship with an outcast?

Usze 'Taham had been N'tho's salvation in more ways than one. Piro had developed a fierce loyalty for the younger male who loved his son as much as he did.

So why was Piro feeling so cranky now? Why did he not want to see Usze and N'tho showing their affection for one another? _What the hell was his problem?_

_Kya_. The thought crossed his mind unbidden.

"I came," Piro said stiffly, "to apologize to my son."

Usze and N'tho looked up from their nuzzling, then exchanged glances.

Piro handed the girls to Usze, who took them silently. Then he lowered his body down into a kneeling position, gritting his mandibles as his joints creaked in protest and he ended up slamming onto his knees. He ignored the pain as he bowed his head in shame. "N'tho, I said something entirely inappropriate last night, which I should never have said. I made you play the target for the anger I felt at my situation, and that was wrong of me. You may…" He swallowed hard. "You may take your due."

"Dad." N'tho got down on his knees to look Piro eye-to-eye. "Do you think I would _ever _cuff you upside the head when I could simply say _apology accepted_?" N'tho reached out and placed his hand on his father's forearm. "I owe you an apology too. I would never have said what I did if I'd had any idea….I mean…everyone thinks…"

"Everyone thinks what?" Piro repeated, his mouth dry.

N'tho's eyes slid to the floor. "Everyone thinks you and Kya are, you know, a mated pair. You've got the kids, and you sleep in the same bed, and you, ah…you…" His face turned a little purple.

Piro stared at him.

"Our apologies for noticing," Usze added, "but in all honesty, the both of you are rather loud. It is quite frankly impossible to overlook."

Piro felt his own skin heating up. By the Ancestors….

But his shame was overcome by the stabbing disquiet within him, this strange mix of rage and grief and abandonment that he had no right to feel for a woman who wasn't his consort, who'd never even shown any interest in a relationship beyond mating.

"I thought…" N'tho's voice had become very quiet. "I thought there was something special between you."

"No. We are friends, and share offspring. Nothing more." Piro sighed. He supposed he owed N'tho a bit more of an explanation. He'd been telling that to the whole base, and evidently no one had believed him. "She doesn't love me," he blurted out. "She's pretending I'm someone else." He could not quite keep the bitterness out of his voice.

N'tho gaped at him. "What?" He looked angry, and Piro feared he might take it out on Kya the next time he saw her.

Piro couldn't let that happen. "And I do not want you to blame her for it, for I am doing the same," he continued coldly.

If Piro had thought N'tho's mandibles could not stretch any wider, he was wrong.

"This isn't because of Mom, is it?" N'tho whispered.

"What isn't?" Piro replied irritably. He didn't want to talk about this any more. He had practicalities to consider. Practicalities like how he was going to make it through tonight, when Kya was going to be in the breeding chamber aboard Tesli 'Taham's fancy cruiser, with a young, strong male—or perhaps several such males—and he was going to be sitting alone on the beach, cooking hot dogs over an open fire, with nothing to keep him company but his memories of his dead wife and his memories of a lovely young nurse who was generous enough to show some patience and tenderness to a worn-out old soldier.

There was only one logical plan and that involved a visit to Private Doyle.

"Listen," Piro continued, before N'tho could say any more. "I still need you and Usze to watch the girls tonight. Can you do that for me?"

N'tho nodded dumbly. "What are…what are you going to do?"

"Visit Doyle."

N'tho blinked. "Hey…don't drink the screech, okay? At least not without watering it down first."

Piro simply got to his feet in response. He didn't want to answer honestly and refused to lie to his son.

"Piro. Why are you behaving in this manner over the actions of a female you are merely using for sex?" Usze asked.

"N-nothing," Piro stammered, caught off-guard by the question. "I mean, no reason." Usze was as serious as ever, staring intently into Piro's eyes, not distracted in the least by his lapful of young Sangheili.

Usze folded his arms. "You are a poor liar, Piro 'Kipaz."

Piro realized that he'd drawn an erroneous conclusion about the other Sangheili. Just because Usze's emotions were harder to read than N'tho's—the result of a lifetime of repression in the Ascetic Order—didn't mean that Usze was completely oblivious to the emotions of others.

Usze had him dead to rights. Piro knew when to admit defeat.

The old Sangheili spoke reluctantly. "Have you ever made a choice that you know is the right decision, and yet regretted it afterwards?"

Usze thought about it for a moment. "You are being vague—I suspect deliberately. Yes, I have, as you said, done what I thought was the right thing and been made to regret it. But I do not know if my choice to decline an invitation to join the Lights of Sanghelios Honour Guard because I believed that I could better serve through active combat rather than a ceremonial position—and the attempts on my life that followed—have any bearing on your current situation."

"Your choice was something you believed was morally right," Piro countered. "And I feel the only morally right thing for me to do is to stay away from Kya."

Usze folded his arms. "I once said that about N'tho when the Ascetics were trying to kill me. As I recall, you tore a strip out of me for abandoning the person I loved. You showed no deference to rank, made no recognition of the fact that I could easily best you in a fight in those days…"

"Oh, I recognized," Piro said, "I just didn't care. I love my son, and you had hurt him."

"You do not love Kya?"

Piro was silent.

If he said no, and Usze or N'tho told her, it would hurt her feelings. He did not want her to feel unloved, because he did care for her, as a friend, as a family member…

_Liar_. Lela'ra's voice rang in his head.

"I love my bondmate," Piro gritted, as much for Lela'ra's ghost as for Usze and N'tho.

"My mother is dead," N'tho said quietly. "She's been dead for fourteen years."

"Kya has never said that she loved me," Piro countered, but he could not fight this battle any longer. He spun around and bolted away.

He wished he could have run fast enough to outrace N'tho's voice as he called, "Did Kya ever say she didn't?"


	11. Chapter 11: Love at Long Range

**Mercenary Hearts**

**Chapter the Eleventh: Love at Long Range**

The _Abundant Plenty_'s breeding chamber was beautiful. The walls were hung with silk draperies, giving the entire room a soft, luxurious appearance. The bed was large and low. There was a thick, soft rug all around it—a comfort to a female on her knees in the traditional breeding posture, though the huge bed made it possible for two Sangheili to comfortably assume all manner of positions without any risk of falling off. Pillows lay in convenient piles about the room; should one or more add to the comfort of those mating, they were readily at hand. Incense burned in ornamental firebowls, lending the room a sweet scent; the fragrance chosen was one of those said to possess the qualities of an aphrodisiac.

All Kya 'Pomor needed to do now was choose a mate from the males who had set out to court her.

Her best choice was doubtlessly the young Aristocrat, Sa 'Firog, who was the head of the guards that Rtas 'Vadum had sent to Earth with the 'Taham family; though he had not done great deeds, his bloodline was well-known and…

No. She already had an Aristocrat's daughter. Sword skills and desirable genetics had not made Toha 'Sumai kind.

Shipmaster 'Konar, then. He had fought well in the war and carried himself with honour; any child would be proud to have such a father, and…

Great deeds and leadership ability had not made Toha 'Sumai kind either.

She was in charge of her own destiny now. She could choose selfishly, and pick Khorr 'Refum, the handsome warrior in the black armour; he was very fine to look at, and hopefully he would be as skilled in bed as his flirtations promised.

Who was there to stop her? Who was there to prevent her from having the male she truly wanted? Nobody! She could choose exactly as she desired…she could enjoy the creation of this child as much as she had enjoyed that of Lara…

Piro's image swam up before her eyes again. She pushed it away.

It was best for an unmarried female to take a different sire for each egg. Mingling her blood with that of several others made for genetic variety in her children.

And Piro 'Kipaz had not expressed any interest at all in accompanying her to this chamber. He had taken her daughters and said nothing, though he had to know by now where she was.

Besides, if all went well, perhaps the male she chose might wish to stay on Earth with her. Khorr might wish to become her bondmate, and lay with her in a common bed. She would no longer need to steal into Piro's room, like the thief she used to be, and slip into the hole that Lela'ra 'Sraom had left behind.

Piro stalked along the path through the park, headed for the beach, with a bag in one hand containing wieners, buns, matches, and the bottle of screech. Piro was muttering to himself, growling that Usze 'Taham was arrogant and judgmental and liked to stick his muzzle into other people's business…anything to avoid facing the fact that Usze 'Taham was right.

When in the name of all things holy had his friendship with Kya 'Pomor crossed the line?

For the life of him he could not figure it out. To deny her mating rights when he was the only other male on this planet would have been selfish and cruel. To refuse to raise Lara…might have been normal for the average Sangheili father, but not for him. He missed N'tho, and though he was glad his son had found happiness with Usze, Piro had found himself lonely, not knowing what to do with himself. Now he had not one but two daughters to raise.

So where had he sinned?

Would it really have been better if he and Kya had kept separate beds…and separate jars of salve and long, cold nights alone?

He could not believe that, and yet he did not understand, because he had had sex after Lela'ra's death just as he had had sex before he had met her, and that was all it had been, just sex, just an animal need being satisfied, and never had he fallen in love with his fuck buddies. Love was something he reserved for his Lela'ra, the beautiful girl who'd asked him to be her first mate, the sweet female who'd sought to be his bondmate despite the sacrifices it entailed, the loving mother of his son…

…_and for the mother of your daughters, the cynic who yet dares to dream, the clever one who can match you word for word in any debate, the lady who has for countless years _endured _whatever the Covenant could throw at her, and whose sharp tongue will never fail to make you smile for her defiance, her tenacity, her indomitable _hope_…_

In that moment Piro 'Kipaz knew himself for a liar, for he was in love with Kya 'Pomor.

_Which changes nothing_, the Major Domo told himself, _because she does not want an old man and regardless does not deserve a mate who is in secret a…_

He was startled from his thoughts by a strangely familiar sound. Was that Kya's voice?

Curious now, Piro slunk through the underbrush. He wished he had N'tho's blue armour on, or perhaps the black that Tesli 'Taham's bodyguards wore—something that wouldn't stand out as obviously in the Human vegetation as Elite Major Red trimmed with 812th Assault Division Purple.

No help for it now.

Piro placed himself behind a tree, strained his hearing, inhaled deeply. He smelled Kya, the soft perfume of her body and the rich fragrance of her mating pheromones—and someone else.

Piro eased around the trunk of the tree and felt his hearts clench as he saw two figures sitting on a bench. One was Kya. The other was one of Tesli's black-armoured bodyguards, and he had his arm around her shoulders and _his tongue tracing over her neck…_

Piro had a plasma rifle on his hip and a carbine on his back. He could blow the bastard's head off the second it moved away from Kya's.

But much as he wanted to, he realized he could not, and his hand never even touched his rifle.

He was not Kya 'Pomor's consort and never had been, and he had no say in whom she chose as her mate.

So he crouched there behind the tree, watching Kya and the young warrior cuddling, feeling sick when Kya started to lap his cheek, wanting to die, to join Lela'ra in the grave and take himself away from all of this…but unable to look away.

The other male eased his hand through the slit in Kya's sari and stroked her flesh beneath the cloth. Kya threw back her head and made that mewing sound of hers that Piro knew very well indeed. "We should return to the ship," she panted.

And he knew all too well what they would do there.

_For the best. For the best. For the best_. He let the mantra repeat itself inside his head.

He had nothing to offer her. Perhaps this young warrior did. Piro had no doubt that Usze's mother and stepfather, and Admiral 'Vadum, would permit him to remain on Earth with Kya if he wished.

But Piro doubted the black-armoured warrior would raise his child—or children—and Piro knew, knew already, that he would step in, because he would not let any innocent child suffer as he had done for the accident of its parents and the sins of its father.

Piro 'Kipaz closed his eyes and prayed to his Ancestors to give him the strength to face Kya's consort every day of the rest of his life.

"No, Khorr." Kya's expression of irritation cut through Piro's prayer. The old Sangheili opened his eyes.

The soldier she had called Khorr snorted. "What difference does it make if we mate in the breeding chamber, or right here?"

Piro watched the male try to take position over Kya right there on the bench, only to have the female shove him away.

"I have never had a proper encounter in the chamber," Kya said, "and it is important to me. Please, Khorr."

"That's nonsense," Khorr snorted.

Piro 'Kipaz watched, as though from a distance, as his vision began to grow gray around the edges, then darken to black.

"You're hot…I can feel it." Khorr shoved his hand roughly up Kya's skirt. "I'll do you there later if you insist….but I want you here and now."

Piro could see only directly in front of him now, as though nothing in the world existed save Kya and Khorr.

It was like looking down a gunsight.

Khorr's features popped into stark relief, hyper-illuminated, as Piro's adrenaline-charged blood sent his senses into overdrive. In his vision, colours brightened, contrasts sharpened, shadows deepened. The two Sangheili's voices were deafening; other sounds ceased to exist. The scent of Kya swam in his nostrils.

In slow motion, Piro watched Khorr recoil, saw Kya cringe.

"What in the name of the Holy Rings is _that_?" the young warrior demanded as he withdrew his hand, raising it back as though to strike.

Piro's vision hazed to red.

"What," Khorr 'Refum growled, "in the name of the Holy Rings is _that_?"

Kya felt ill.

The Mark of Punishment. How could she possibly have _forgotten _that she carried a Mark of Punishment?

Because nobody on Earth cared. Because the Humans did not know what the Mark signified, and because Usze and N'tho…and Piro…ignored it.

They had never even asked what she had done to deserve it.

"It is a leftover from the old regime," she tried weakly, but Khorr had already recoiled from her.

Kya hung her head. Stupid, stupid, stupid… She closed her eyes in shame as Khorr walked around the bench. He was leaving her. He would not breed with a shamed one.

She might have to behave like a complete slut to get someone from _Abundant Plenty _to breed her. Khorr was a warrior, and had a warrior's honour. Some of the veterans or weak ones who made up the males on Tesli's crew would have less pride if she tempted them.

She could do that if she had to, though it would destroy her breeding-chamber fantasy, and she felt ill at the thought that she could not pick her mate but would rather have to settle for whatever male would have her.

And then Kya realized, to her horror, that Khorr had not left. He was behind her, and he had sank his teeth into the nape of her neck.

For a moment she was reminded of Toha 'Sumai, though the Blademaster had not bothered to bite her before he forced himself upon her. She felt sick even as her body went limp in Khorr's grip.

She had survived Toha, and she would survive Khorr, she told herself, but her secret heart was cursing her now for going to the _Abundant Plenty_'s breeding chamber when she could have stayed at home with…

Khorr shoved her off of the bench. She fell to the earth and landed in a pool of muddy water with a splash, unable to control her fall. The water soaked through her best sari, staining it the colour of feces. As she struggled to get her muscles under control, she found herself rocking back and forth, wallowing in the puddle. There was mud in her mouth, and dirty water in her left eye.

The warrior's shadow fell across her. Kya forced her eyes open, glaring at him, refusing to give him the satisfaction of cringing away.

He spat on her.

"Filth," he growled, and then…then he turned to walk away.

Kya was so shocked by the fact that he did not intend to rape her that her relief completely obliterated the sense of degradation that Khorr had intended to inflict on her. It was only when she heard the snap of a twig behind her that she realized what she must look like.

"Kya?"

She cringed, for she recognized the voice as Piro's. He was the last person she wanted to see her like this.

His arms were around her, lifting her out of the mud as her muscle control slowly came back. She marveled at his strength; he grunted when he hauled her upright, proving that he could not lift her effortlessly, but lift her he did. Soon she was back on her own two hooves, with Piro's left arm wrapped around her waist to support her while she regained her equilibrium. All the while, Piro's head was thrust forward belligerently and he was snarling at Khorr with a ferocity she could barely imagine from the man who had always been so kind to her.

Kya cringed when she saw Khorr turn around and stalk back towards them. "And I see your toothless old slave is here to pull you out of the mud."

For some reason, Khorr's comment made Kya angry, far angrier than his treatment of her. Because Khorr was right – she was a criminal and a lesser creature. Piro, on the other hand, was far from toothless. The renegade Zhaal 'Lymuxee could testify to that from whatever hell he'd gone to after Piro had killed him.

Piro ceased growling and shook his head, as though Khorr was nothing but an ill-mannered child. "You will show the lady some respect."

Khorr swaggered up to them, a brash young warrior spoiling for a fight. "Show me a lady deserving of it, and I shall consider it."

Piro frowned disapprovingly but otherwise made no comment. Nor did he engage in any of the usual posturing between two males at odds with one another. There was none of the usual neck-snaking or mandible-flaring or shoulder-hunching. Kya was reminded of a teacher reprimanding a student. It was as though Khorr was beneath Piro's dignity to fight, which made for a subtle but extremely offensive insult.

Khorr understood that insult and was clearly provoked by it. "What's the matter, old man?" Khorr sneered, trying to goad Piro into striking. "Aren't you going to fight me to defend your lady?"

"I do not need to fight you," Piro said simply. "I was there the last time a male forced his attentions on her. She put a plasma round between his eyes." And, smiling slightly, Piro drew a plasma rifle and pressed it into Kya's hands.

She took it automatically and pointed it at Khorr. She _would _protect Piro.

Khorr abruptly stopped laughing and turned to look at Kya.

She stared back at him challengingly.

His expression turned to one of disgust. "You killed a warrior?"

"He was a criminal," Kya said, struggling to keep her voice steady.

"_You_ are a criminal!" Khorr retorted, pointing to her thigh where the Mark was branded into her flesh. "You are an outcast and you do not know your place! If a warrior deigned to grace you with his attentions, you should have been grateful! Instead you assume the role of a warrior yourself, as though you were a man of honour and not a woman of sin."

Kya's temper flared. "Are you on the side of Admiral Wattin, then? Would you return Sanghelios to the dark ages?"

"No," Khorr replied, "I have sided with the Arbiter for a reason, but that reason does not include permitting females to act like warriors, or allowing criminals to flaunt themselves in front of law-abiding soldiers."

Piro stepped forward to Kya's side. "Then allow me to suggest that we all consider this encounter terminated, and leave."

"Why? Are you afraid?" Khorr said, curling his lips once more.

"If it is a fight you wish, then a fight you shall receive," Piro said simply.

Kya felt her hearts constrict. What was Piro thinking? Khorr was young and powerful and in his prime, and Piro was far past his… She wanted Piro to swallow his pride and run. She did not wish to witness Piro's thrashing after accepting Khorr's challenge. But she feared that the old soldier would not abandon his honour that way. Her fingers tightened around the trigger of the plasma rifle.

And Piro was speaking with that same quiet intensity he'd used on _Shadow of Intent _right before he put a carbine round through Zhaal's throat.

"But if you fight," Piro said as he reached for the grip of the carbine on his back, "you fight us both, and the Ambassadors as well. For that is how the Sangheili on this planet behave. One family. One united whole. If you fight one of us, you fight us all."

Khorr took an uneasy step backwards. He was clearly shaken at the idea of actually trading plasma bursts with a female. And, if he was thinking at all, he was realizing that even if he defeated Kya and Piro, it would be only a matter of time before N'tho and Usze came looking for vengeance.

Or perhaps he was losing his nerve to that ice-cold look in Piro's eye and the fact that his words were spoken as though they were holy gospel.

"You fools are not worth my time," Khorr retorted, but the stammer in his voice and the quiver in his mandibles betrayed that he was afraid. "What sort of Embassy is this, filled with criminals and cripples?" He turned to Kya, growling. "I will not soil my seed with you, filthy virago," he spat, and then he turned his back and stalked away.

Piro released his hold on the carbine's grip and instead put his arm around Kya. She stood there, quivering, holding the plasma rifle as a Human bride might hold her bouquet.

"It is true, what he says," Kya whispered. "I am a criminal and a poor excuse for a Sangheili. I associate with Humans and do not keep my place. I am a nurse, but I walk in the path of a warrior."

"Then," Piro said quietly, "if you would be a virago, I should teach you how to handle that weapon with greater accuracy and skill." He winked at her.

Kya felt her face grow pale. "You…would do such a thing?"

Piro chuckled to himself. "First, I must send a message to Fil Storamy on the fleet." He released his hold on her at last when he reached into the storage space on his armour and withdrew his personal comm unit, tilting the screen so she could see it. Kya noticed that Piro had recorded Khorr's entire diatribe. "I think Fil would be most interested to hear Khorr's opinion on females who act as males. Don't you?"

Kya thought of the _Shadow of Intent_'s unorthodox Shipmaster, the still-serving Chief Quartermaster of the Fleet of Particular Justice. Fil dressed in a hodgepodge of warrior's armour and had recently traded in her plasma sword for a huge gravity hammer she'd taken from a Brute she'd killed during the Great Betrayal. Why, Kya was a perfect example of a Sangheili gentlewoman next to the likes of Fil…

"…she's going to put that hammer of hers right up his rear end, isn't she?" Kya mused.

Piro laughed. "I am hoping she will be more subtle in her revenge, but…" He shrugged. "Knowing Fil, I will not bet against you."

Kya sighed. She was fortunate in a way, to have discovered that Khorr was a despicable person before she mated with him. It would have been far worse had he been mounting her when he discovered her Mark, or if he had learned after the fact and vowed to hunt down and smash her egg—or kill her child.

But now she was alone. Alone, and in season, and Khorr was on his way back to Tesli's ship to tell the whole crew that she was a pariah.

She turned to Piro and found that he was gone.

The old Sangheili had already taken his leave of her. He was ambling down the garden path, his head down. Probably sending his message to Fil Storamy.

Just as well. She already had one of Piro's children. She should diversify her bloodline. She should…

She turned and walked slowly to _Abundant Plenty_'s gravity lift, still holding the plasma rifle, feeling soiled in both body and soul.


	12. Chapter 12: Choose Wisely

**Mercenary Hearts**

**Chapter the Twelfth: Choose Wisely**

Kya 'Pomor sat on the lush bed in the breeding chamber aboard _Abundant Plenty_. She had removed her mud-stained sari and dressed in the extravagant breeding gown which Shayya 'Taham had so generously given her. As she had cleaned herself, she had thought long and hard, and had come to only one conclusion.

If she wanted a child this night, she would have to swallow her pride.

There were two choices available to her. The first was to walk down the hall to the crew lounge, dressed in her breeding gown. She had no doubt that she could get male attention, Mark of Punishment or no.

The other…

Her eyes fell on the plasma rifle lying on the bedside table and she realized, with shock, that it was _her _rifle. The one she'd taken from Toha 'Sumai's holster. The one she'd kept ever since for personal protection.

She had told no one that she did this, but there was one who knew her well enough to figure it out on his own.

Kya 'Pomor reached for her commlink, her decision made.

She understood logic and genetics and convention. She understood broken hearts and lost mates and unrequited love. But she knew, beyond a doubt, where to find the best possible father for her future child, and she knew who she wanted in her bed tonight.

Piro 'Kipaz knelt in front of his ancestral altar, where a holograph of Lela'ra shared its illumination with a pair of flickering candles. In a low voice he chanted the Song of the Dead over and over again. His mouth still tasted like the two shots of Private Doyle's screech that he'd bolted down to take the edge off his nerves.

What had his son told him? That Doyle distilled it for easier storage. That it was meant to be cut with water. Piro had not cut it at all. He had drank it down straight, and it had burned like hellfire, and he suspected it was toying with his vision and his reflexes.

No matter.

_To those who went before,_

_ Be remembrance evermore._

_ So their blood sings in my veins,_

_ So my failing is their shame,_

_ So my victory, their crown,_

_ My triumph, their renown._

_ Their honour, passed to me,_

_ To my young, henceforth will be. _

_ These deeds that here are mine_

_ Shall be added to my line._

He repeated the verse over and over while staring at the image, until the words disintegrated into a wave of sound, a vehicle that carried him into a trance, where the portrait shattered before him and he found himself standing in the Mausoleum of the Arbiter on High Charity. And Lela'ra was standing at his side.

"This is our home," Lela'ra said to him. She reached up to the wall and opened one of the caskets. "And this, our marriage bed."

Piro recoiled in revulsion. "Lela'ra, what are you saying?"

"My mother once told me, _it is death to love the dead_. Did your mother not tell you the same?"

Piro snorted. His former commanding officer, Veer, had told him that saying countless times as a young cadet. He had lost many of his battle brothers over the years, and the losses had always hit him hard.

"Veer always told me so. He meant that one can so lose themselves in mourning, that they forget their battle reflexes and end up a corpse themselves."

"Veer was fixated on war, my dear one. One forever lost in mourning will forget how to live. The way of life is change, after all." She smiled slyly, as if she knew a secret. "Things are born, they live, they grow old, they die, and from their ashes new things are born. But you…" She touched his cheek and her expression was sad. "You have fallen from the wheel. Your heart is static, trapped in time, left behind in the past." Lela'ra's eyes ran with tears. "You are already as one dead, Piro 'Kipaz. You turn your back on life to shed more tears for me."

He could not understand why his devotion caused her to cry. He argued, "I love you! What _should _I have done?"

"Do you not understand, Piro? I have had my fill of tears." Her hand on his cheek was cool. "I am glad that you have not forgotten me. I would hope you might hold a place for me in your heart forever. But my memory cannot sustain you, and your tears cannot revive me."

Piro hung his head in defeat, because her words were true. None of his mourning had brought her any closer to him than he had been on the day he had opened the communication from Rek'i. The message that told him that she was dead.

"Look around you, Piro 'Kipaz." Lela'ra said. "Your heart lies in a graveyard. You buried it with me. Will your soul proceed your body to the grave?"

"I am saving it for you," Piro said softly. "So that we might walk together to Paradise on the Great Journey."

Lela'ra pressed her muzzle to his. "I am beyond such things as Paradise or Damnation."

He blinked at her, not understanding, and she lifted her mandibles to his earbud.

"Piro, you are already in your heaven—or your hell."

His hearts stopped.

A buzzing noise filled the world.

With a sudden hurdling rush, Lela'ra and the Mausoleum receded in front of him. It was as though he were in the back of a vehicle, driving away from them….no, it was as though they were moving while he stood still. He cried out and reached out his hand for Lela'ra 'Sraom.

Her words to him came from a great distance. "Once you gave me Paradise, Piro 'Kipaz. I now give you leave to rediscover it."

And with a jolt of pain, he awoke.

Piro snatched back his left hand and shook it. The air smelled of singed scales.

On his altar, the candles had burned low. The right candle ran with half-melted rivulets; the left bore the telling imprint of his hand.

When he had reached for his mate, he had put his hand into the hot wax.

The buzzing noise came again.

It was his commlink. He pulled it from the storage place in his armour and looked at the screen.

Kya was calling him.

This breeding chamber was the last place on Earth that Piro 'Kipaz wished to be. He knocked on the door, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, trying not to breathe in the intoxicating scent of incense wafting from under the door. He would see what Kya needed so badly, and then he would be gone, back to his quarters where he would crawl inside a bottle of Private Doyle's homebrewed screech.

By the Rings, he already felt a little drunk and he'd only had two shots. Doyle's devil's brew was more than strong enough to put a Sangheili out like a light; ordinarily Piro hated the stuff. But he needed it very badly tonight.

It was the only thing he knew that would drive away the thought of Kya's breeding.

The door opened before him. The fragrance of incense hit him full-force, and yet the impact was nothing next to the sight of Kya in a silken breeding robe. Cascades of soft, shining cloth in a stunning rich magenta colour wrapping her curves, caressing her hide, slipping around her thighs with her every movement…

Looking at her was hell.

"What do you require?" Piro choked as he stared over her shoulder. The room was lovely; how strange that it was on a ship. His eyes probed the corners. Surely her prospective mate was not already here?

He had better not be. Piro had narrowly avoided one fight today; he did not want to be tempted into starting another.

If she was still breeding with Khorr despite what he had done, Piro knew he would not be able to resist the murderous urge to blast the other male's throat out, as he had done to Zhaal 'Lymuxee.

"Come in."

"I would rather not."

Kya's voice cracked. "I need your help."

He could not bear the distress on her face, and, no matter what it might do to him later, he stepped across the threshold.

Kya slammed the door behind him. He heard the sound of the bolt slamming home.

"Kya," he murmured, struggling to control his rising emotion, "I am not…not well, and must return to my quarters. What do you need?"

She looked up at him, her eyes shimmering. "My mate."

He pulled back his lips, disguising his pain as anger, and he was about to demand what her choice of male had to do with him when she threw her arms around his chest and pressed herself against him.

His eyes widened with shock even as his arms moved of their own accord to hold her to him, to touch her, to tease his hands through the cunning slits in the back of the robe where one layer of cloth tucked under another, always hiding the female's body from sight and yet leaving room for a male to work his hands under her clothing and caress her skin…

"Are you truly unwell?" she murmured in his earbud. "I will do all the…work…if you will only consent…"

"I have the strength," Piro replied, for while his mind was in a roil, his body was willing, no, eager to serve. "Oh, Kya, are you sure?" he asked her, but even as he asked he was seducing her with his hands and his tongue and his movements, knowing what he wanted her answer to be.

"Yes, and now you are here," she whispered against his neck. "Dream with me, Piro. Let us have this night as…as a husband and wife would."

With those words, he lost any desire to reason with her. He knew she had chosen poorly: genetic diversity of the children was always more desirable unless the female was married or intended to be married, and he was under no illusions that she loved him, and he might not survive to see the child of this mating reach maturity…but her body was warm against his, and she clung to him ardently, and when he stroked his hands across her skin beneath the breeding robe, she closed her eyes with an expression at once blissful and hungry for more. To deny their mating was more than the Ancestors could ask of a mortal man.

He picked her up and carried her to the bed.

Kya was surprised, for Piro did not deposit her on the rug on her knees, even though that was the traditional position. Instead, he sat her on the side of the bed, so that she might choose how they mated. He began to remove his armour, then paused and caught her eye. He took off his arm guards more slowly, then his body harness…

Kya whimpered.

Piro sped up a little, but not much, and by the time he stripped his jumpsuit off, she was panting.

How had she not noticed how fine he was to look at? Six months on Earth, with rest and recovery and plentiful food had restored him to full health. And she knew his body, knew every curve and jut of bone, every battle scar, every smooth expanse…knew where to touch to make him purr, to make him groan, to make him cry out. Yet she was not bored of him, and she could hardly wait to touch him again.

He was her dear one, and she desired him, even more than she desired her dream of a traditional breeding.

But perhaps she could have both.

Keening deep in her throat, she rolled to her side and slipped out of the bed, kneeling before him, her knees resting comfortably in the thick carpet provided for just that purpose, her elbows folded on the side of the bed. She hoped she looked pretty…hoped he wanted her as she wanted him….

Kya heard his footsteps as he approached. The scent of aroused warrior became stronger. Kya stretched herself and purred, arching her back, showing herself off for him.

Piro leaned over her, stroking her in a way that made her long for more. His left hand traced her spine while his right hand slipped beneath her skirt. She could feel his breath hot on the back of her neck.

He took his time touching her. In the absence of salve, he licked his own fingers to help moisten her—to please her. And please her he did, though he would not let her climax.. He stroked her until she was on the edge and then his hands would retreat to caress her thighs or fondle her rump, and she would pant and gasp and slowly he would begin to stroke her again. She adored the way he pleasured her, and yet the tension building within her was maddening.

Finally, her need grew so great that when he stilled his hands she began to mew with unfulfilled need. Piro nuzzled her, purring, and then he carefully, reverently took the hem of her gown in his hands and pulled it up until the edge of it lay around her shoulders. The air of the chamber was cool on her unclothed lower half. She took a deep breath, filling her lungs with incense and the scent of her mate.

And she closed her eyes, so she would not see that her arms did not bear Piro Kipaz's bonding bracelets around her wrists.

She heard Piro shifting behind her, and then she felt him gently probing between her thighs as his chest touched her back and his arms came down around her ribs. Kya took a deep breath as Piro slipped inside her.

He had needed no fondling from her to be hard and ready. Kya gnawed her mandibles as she realized that he was barely in her. He began to move his hips, and Kya felt him moving just a little bit deeper with each thrust. Slowly…slowly deeper…

Kya let out a mewl of shock and lust as she realized that Piro was doing this on purpose. She was feeling every centimetre of the penetration and she was loving every second, and it just kept getting better as he got deeper…deeper…

She craved him. She spread her thighs as wide as she dared and arched her back, hoping to drive him into her, but he kept on tantalizing her until in the end she could do nothing but cry out and writhe and wait until…

…until at long last he was fully sheathed and he was touching her inside where she wanted him, and already she came.

He was still, letting her have her pleasure, and as soon as the moment passed he began to move again and she was once again enflamed with lust, as though she had not been touched in months. How did he _do _it?

He was so tender and so loving and yet so unashamedly _indulgent_ in bed, and she loved both sides of him, loved him, loved Piro 'Kipaz…

"My wife…"

Kya felt her hearts sink despite the pleasure coursing through her body. Until this moment she had thought—no, she had _believed _that Piro was enjoying being in a breeding chamber with her, indulging in all the romance and luxury and sensual delights of this Sangheili tradition. Perhaps at the beginning he had been. But now, in the middle of their union, Piro had retreated once again into his fantasy world.

Why was she surprised? She knew he did this. She _knew_! Why would this chamber make any difference?

She was going to have another child from this union. Another beautiful child like Lara! It did not matter if her mate closed his eyes and dreamed of his dead bondmate.

"Kya."

His voice stilled her. The sensations in her body seemed very distant. Lost, adrift, she groped to understand.

"Kya, my wife."

She gasped.

Piro surged against her, mistaking her sound for one of pleasure perhaps, but the feeling of him within her made a second exclamation tear from her mandibles. The distant sensation faded; all of a sudden she was very much in her own body, very aware of what Piro was doing to her and how wonderful it felt.

"Kya, my wife…" His voice was tight and he gripped her shoulders for support as he drove harder against her.

"Piro!" Her body was already swaying against him—it knew what to do—but suddenly that wasn't enough. She threw herself back to meet him, panting, suddenly desperate. "Piro, don't stop!"

"Kya…"

She did not know how long it lasted, but it seemed very long indeed. Wave after wave of endless pleasure, rising, ebbing only to rise again, over and over…never quite bringing her to completion. Her hearts thundered; her lungs burned, and still she craved Piro, still they cried for one another because they could not get enough. Kya did not know it was possible to be so aroused. She thought she might die of it.

His hands spasmed. How long had they been…? Piro must be struggling to hold on for her sake, and was likely about to lose that battle. She was straining him, no doubt. But she wasn't done!

She teetered on a precipice, so close to completion, but somehow helpless to actually arrive. She pumped. He thrust. It felt good, but it did not finish her. And to be so near and fail to actually reach climax…it would hurt. It would be physically painful if he stopped. She couldn't bear it. She would…she would finish this herself if she had to.

"Kya, my wife!" he thundered, and sank his teeth into the nape of her neck.

For all their prior matings, he had never set teeth to her before. The act sent a shock wave through her, even as her body went limp and her pleasure, with no resistance to contain it, burst from her in a furious maelstrom. Without thinking she raised her head and cried to the heavens:

"Piro…my husband!"

The surge of energy in him could only be described as rejuvenating.

She was his _wife_, and in this moment nothing else existed but Kya, and her hunger for him, and his need for her.

He took her hips in his hands and gave himself to her, deeply, desperately, holding nothing back.

And she gave herself to him, crying his name over and over until her last word broke off in a strangled cry. Seconds later, he spilled into her and was done.

He staggered to his feet, barely able to reach the bed where he collapsed, utterly spent. The invigorating power was gone now, given to her womb, where he could only hope it gave her the child she craved. Another young one that he could raise and guide…

Yes, another child would please him. But this female…this beautiful female…he could never have her…

_Let us have one night together as husband and wife_, she had said.

She slipped into the bed beside him, whimpering, bunting him with her muzzle. His sharp-tongued lady was strangely vulnerable, like the night she had cried in his arms. And he knew what to do. He had strength enough to hold her and lap away her tears.

So he cuddled her close to him, and banished those dark thoughts from his mind. She had asked for a night to dream, and he would give it to her. In the silence left by his unspoken doubts, there was room perhaps for him to dream as well.


	13. Chapter 13: Deference for Darkness

**Mercenary Hearts**

**Chapter the Thirteenth: Deference for Darkness**

Piro awoke to Kya nuzzling him.

He sighed, for it felt delightful and he wanted nothing more than to wrap his arms around her and lap her cheek, to savour their awakening, perhaps to mate again before tidying up and going about their day. He imagined asking her if she might like to formalize their impromptu room-sharing arrangement and become his consort.

_Or you could say what is in your heart and ask her to be your wife. The Humans married N'tho and Usze—they would marry the two of you as well._

But in the light of morning, Piro 'Kipaz knew the dream was over.

It was time for him to do the right thing.

Kya cuddled him, purring. "Now I see," she whispered, "why many young females marry retired warriors. You can still breed, and very well, might I add," she said with a sly wink.

Piro realized he was about to have a very difficult time arguing with her when her words just made his hearts swell with pride.

He sighed, trying to bring her back to earth. "Do you realize what you are doing, teasing me with marriage? I am sixty-four."

"One year short of the mandatory retirement age for warriors."

"Yes. And four years past the age where a warrior may choose to retire honourably."

"But our kind can live quite long. One hundred and twenty is not uncommon. One hundred and fifty is possible, while still remaining sharp of mind. You might well be in your middle age." She smiled up at him. "I may have many more years with you."

Piro shook his head. "I am not living in an archive, or temple, or wealthy keep with the resources to care for me. Nor or do I have the kind of knowledge that would make my care a worthwhile choice. I am a career soldier, and not a particularly notable one; the world will not be lessened so much by my passing."

Kya frowned. "The world of your children will be very much lessened by it."

"And I live on an alien world."

"Where many Human cultures care for their elders, where we have good food and comfortable accommodations, and where, might I add, the female whose bed you share works with a trained medical staff."

"If hostilities between us and the renegades—or the Brutes—or embittered humans—or who knows what else do not kill me first. One hundred and fifty is possible, yes, but you know as well as I do that most Sangheili do not live to see eighty, because if they do not die in combat, they commit ritual suicide before they suffer themselves to burden their families."

Kya's eyes narrowed. "I tell you this now, Piro 'Kipaz, it will be more burden to me to survive without you than to tend your weakness. I am a nurse by trade, and well skilled in these matters; caring for you is a far easier prospect than finding another Sangheili with such a selective vision impairment."

Piro raised an eyebrow.

Kya smiled slyly. "To be unable to see a Mark of Punishment, and treat its bearer like a Priestess, like someone to be honoured and respected, revered even…."

Piro growled. "You should be rid of that Mark. Usze removed N'tho's; let me remove yours."

Kya, saddened, shied away. "Usze removed N'tho's because the Arbiter pardoned him."

"Then I will petition the Arbiter to pardon you!"

"N'tho was pardoned partly because he was a hero of the Halo and partly because the original sin was his grandfather's and not his own." Kya hung her head. "I am no saviour of the universe, Piro, nor am I an innocent. This mark was something I earned."

Piro snorted. "What did you do? Refuse a mating with a male you did not like? Fail to profess a belief in illusionary gods? Question the morals of those traitors, the Prophets? Some other crime that ought not to be a crime at all?"

Kya 'Pomor bowed her head and said simply, "I am a thief."

Kya folded her arms to raise the courage to disabuse Piro of his faith in her. "And not merely to feed myself or my siblings," she said harshly, for she realized he was right. She was a fool to allow an honourable warrior to tie himself to a criminal, and the kindest thing she could do was to disabuse him of the fact that she was in any way the beauty he thought she was. Perhaps he could make her his consort…perhaps…but this marriage business would never do. He had called her his wife as they mated and she had lost her head entirely.

She had to forge a workable reality from the ashes of her dreams.

He stared at her, as though he did not comprehend, and she stared back at him because she could not lie to him. He would know her, and he would accept the full truth of her or not, but whatever his decision, it would be made with full knowledge of what she was. She had made that mistake with Khorr and she would not make it again, nor would she live in fear of Piro discovering the truth. If Piro was to desire her, it would be with no illusions.

"I came into your room that first night to take that salve. Because I wanted it. I have never had any better justification for my acts than _because I wanted it_." She hung her head, guilty. "Even my mating with you has been driven by my greed: first for children, then for pleasure…"

"And now?" Piro asked quietly. "Now you have a shipful of males who might oblige you with both children and pleasure. And yet you called for me—a wrinkled, slow old soldier, who has already given you one child, a man who dreams of his wife as he lies with you."

Kya felt her heart soar with hope even as her throat tightened when she realized his statement was not entirely true.

"You said my name," Kya replied softly.

Piro held his tongue, confused. He had expected her to try to justify her crimes. This new line of argument bewildered him.

She prompted him with further explanation. "When we mated. You said my name."

"I…" Piro swallowed. "You have been very generous in accepting my…fantasies."

"That is not the fantasy to which I am accustomed." Kya closed her eyes. "Last night you did not call for Lela'ra. You cried for me."

Piro folded his arms and cast his eyes downward. What was there for him to say? He could not deny it.

He was concerned to discover that she had been a thief. He heard the guilt in her voice, but he also remembered the ease with which she had first appeared in his room. At the time he had been so dizzied by the thought that this attractive young female might find him desirable that he had never bothered to question her how she had procured admittance to his quarters; he had simply assumed that one of the Marines had mistaken them for a courting couple and admitted her.

But this reality, however disturbing, did not change anything.

He loved her. He loved her strength and her dauntless spirit and her matter-of-fact courage. He loved her supple body and her warm eyes and the way she held her children. He loved her sharp intelligence, her sly laughter, her soothing lullabies. He loved her, and no Mark could undo it.

She spoke, and her words were like a plasma blast to his hearts. "Let us be done with this uncertainty. If you can accept a thief for a consort…shall we make that fantasy a reality, and formalize this arrangement?"

He was flabbergasted. It was unheard of, for any female other than a Priestess to ask a male to be her consort, and yet Kya assumed the Priestess' role as though she were fully entitled to it.

_No._

No, he could not do it.

An old, used-up warrior with an immeasurable sin on his shoulders could never marry beautiful, courageous, sharp-tongued Kya.

_Look at her! She stares me in the eyes and tells me the worst of her, throwing out her faults like a challenge, as if daring me to stop loving her…_

He could see the liquid softness in her eyes, and he could read the fear within them. She was not trying to drive him away. She did fear his rejection. But her courage burned through like fire, driving her to reveal herself before him and let him judge her as he would.

He judged her too good for him.

"Kya, think rationally," Piro pleaded. "You are young and strong and have so much of your life ahead of you. I am past my prime, becoming slower and weaker with every passing day. You need to go out and find a partner your own age, who will come to Earth and…"

"And what? Raise my children? I cannot imagine any of this ship's young warriors giving up their rank for exile on an alien planet and a thief in their bed. No, they are more likely to leave me with egg and a note that they will send for their child when it is old enough for War College or Finishing School! And who will raise my child then?" She narrowed her eyes. "_Both_ of my daughters are calling you their father. I have no doubt that were I to have twenty young by twenty different heroes, every single one of those children would go about claiming heritage in the House of 'Kipaz." She put her mandibles against his—_overtop_ of his. "I see no reason why I should not be the consort of the male who is going to be a parent to my young regardless!"

Piro pulled away, then whipped his head back so his mandibles were over hers. He would _not_ let himself be dominated or intimidated. For her sake he _must _not give in, no matter how badly he wished it. "And when I die of old age, where will you and your children be?"

"We will be in the company of _your_ son and his mate—with our family—where we belong!"

Piro blinked.

She had some very good points. The Sangheili who lived on Earth really were a little family. Kya's two daughters were sisters to Usze and N'tho; they were all bound by blood already. Piro had no doubt that N'tho and Usze would care for Kya and her young after he was gone.

Kya drew away from him and folded her arms, shooting a narrow glance over her shoulder. "Of course, all of that is meaningless if you do not care for me."

"Kya, that is nonsense and you know it."

She pressed her muzzle right up against his. That matter-of-fact courage he loved was right in his face now. "Then stop being a fool and wasting the years which you have left."

It was like twin blades in his hearts to speak the words. "That is not possible, Kya."

She recoiled from him, visibly hurt, but when she spoke, her face was composed, and her voice was cool. "So. For all your pretty words, you have second thoughts about taking a thief as your consort."

Oh, she was a hard woman, his beauty, but he could see the shimmering pain in the depths of her eye.

"You are the one who should be having the second thoughts," he countered. "In their absence, I must have them for you."

"Why should I be concerned?" she replied lightly, but he knew her well enough from the clenching in her hands and the pressure in her jaws that she was crying on the inside.

Instead of answering the question she had asked with her words, he took her hands and answered the question in her heart. He could read it on her body – _is it not possible because I am not worth your affection_?

"We have been on this planet for six months. I have not heard the Humans complain of any thefts. Either you are not stealing, or you are stealing things that no one misses."

"I am not stealing."

Piro shrugged. "So you are not a thief. You are a former thief."

"What difference does that make?"

"Quite a bit. Would you welcome an Ascetic here?"

"No!"

"But Usze 'Taham was once an Ascetic. He has become something different now. Or, look at my own son. N'tho used to mate quite indiscriminately. But since we came here, he has been with no one but Usze, and it should be as clear to you as it is to everyone else that he has no desire for any other mates."

Kya nodded warily.

"So if Usze and N'tho can change, why should I not believe that you have changed as well?"

"I don't need to steal because you give me everything," Kya said suspiciously, as if insinuating that should Piro stop giving her things, she might revert to her old ways.

The idea that she only liked him for what he could give her stung, but he also did not believe that it was true. "And you wish to be my mate so I will continue?"

"Yes."

Piro shrugged. "There are males on this ship who could give you that much and more, and who are doubtlessly more pleasing in bed…"

Kya seized his shoulders. He was shocked by the power in her grip. "I want _you_!"

He forced a smile, and said, "So you wish for more than the things I give you…" but his attempt to tease fell apart as he saw the look in her eyes. By the Holy Ancestors, she did want him. And he wanted her, and it hurt so much for him to deny her.

But he had to.

He loved her.

"But I don't deserve you," Kya muttered, "and we both know it."

Piro felt a spear of rage cut through him.

By all odds he should let her feel this way. By all odds he should accept that this wedge between them would turn her from him. Because it was true—he was too old for her.

But he had been too old for Lela'ra 'Sraom and that had not stopped him.

No, there was another reason…something he would rather not think about.

Kya, however, had looked him in the eye and told him the truth of herself. He could do no less.

She deserved that much at least.

"Kya," he said quietly, "will you come with me? I would tell you a thing."

Piro looked about the breeding chamber, his eyes darting this way and that, as if he expected to find an intruder under the bed, or in the closet. "It is something no other ears might hear, and we must not speak of it on this ship."

His voice had changed, she realized. He was speaking in that same soft, deadly tone he'd used on Zhaal 'Lymuxee before he'd shot him, and on Khorr this afternoon.

"I am too old for you, yes," he murmured, "but I was too old for Lela'ra 'Sraom as well. As you have told the truth, so shall I, and then we can see who is judged and found wanting."

Kya felt a chill pass through her. If it was not his age that was causing him to act this way, what could it be? What was worse than being a thief?

He rose to his feet, dressing in his armour. Kya climbed out of the bed and dressed as well, though the breeding gown was the only clothing she had—her sari was still irredeemably filthy.

She was nervous, it was true. But she had not come this far only to turn back now.

She was in love with Piro 'Kipaz and it seemed that he felt the same for her. Whatever stood between them, she would face it, head on. And, if Khorr's words were true—if she were nothing but a virago, a female who acted as a male—then she would do battle with whatever this unknown foe might be, and she would triumph.

Piro and Kya left _Abundant Plenty _on the gravity lift and started walking. They moved side by side in silence. Kya was apparently waiting for him to speak, though she reached out and took his hand in hers. He squeezed it, gratefully, wondering if she would still want to be near him when she knew his whole story.

He was not entirely certain where he was going, but when he found himself on the beach—at the circle of logs and the fire pit where he and Kya had mated for the first time—he knew that there was no better place for the confession he needed to make.

He had a device in his armour to make a fire in the pit. Kya helped him to gather tinder and driftwood. Soon, a small flame was licking towards the sky. Piro and Kya sat side-by-side on a log in front of the fire.

"I must tell you a tale," Piro said softly, as the sea wind lashed around them both. "It is part history, and part confession."

"Then tell me," Kya murmured. "The time for secrets between us is done."

Piro reached out with a stick and stirred the fire. He stared into the embers, took a deep breath, sent a silent prayer to Lela'ra, and began.

"Twenty-five years ago I was injured in combat. I tore several tendons in my leg, and in order to heal, I was sent back to Sanghelios for lighter duties. I joined the Home Guard in the 'Sraom keep, ensuring the keep's defence. Since the 'Sraom keep had made peace with the surrounding keeps, there was little for me to do, and the Guard commander set me to watching the little ones.

The Kaidon's eldest daughter Lela'ra took a particular shine to me, and made a point of keeping me company. I was glad to have it, for as you know, the House of 'Kipaz is poor and has few battle honours. Most of the House of 'Sraom snubbed me, and so Lela'ra was my only company.

She went away to Finishing School the following year, and I returned to active duty, but even then, she sent me a comm letter every day, and I sent one back to her. She invited me to all the school events, which I attended when I was able, and where I often found myself taking the role of her father, who was too busy to attend. I started to think of my little friend as the niece I never had, for my siblings would have nothing to do with me, their outcast half-brother, and I never met their young. And, of course, by then I had grown very fond of her.

But near the end of her fourth year, something happened to change our relationship.

I spent most of the year off-planet, and it was some time before I came back to Sanghelios on leave. I stayed with Rek'i for a while, and then I went to visit Lela'ra at school. And when I saw her…By the Ancestors. While I had been away, the cute little girl I remembered been replaced by a breathtaking young woman. I had to struggle not to stare as she eagerly ran up to me and took my hand.

I had no permission to take her off campus, so instead we walked about the grounds, catching up, until all of a sudden Lela'ra tugged me into a utility closet. Swiftly and deftly, she locked the door so no one else could get in.

Then she told me she had a matter she needed to discuss with me in private.

I settled myself on the floor. Lela'ra sat down next to me and told me how her classmates could speak of nothing else but their upcoming graduation night, only a month away.

I was embarrassed, of course. Lower-class adult warriors should not speak of such things with a kaidon's daughter. But she seemed agitated, and so I tried to play the supportive uncle and asked her if she had anyone special in mind.

_Whoever he was, he was a lucky bastard_, I thought, and then she looked at me and said quietly that she would have me be her first mate, if I were willing.

I think I spent about two minutes trying not to choke, until at last she pulled away from me and a tear slid from her eye as she offered me an apology for her forwardness, her rudeness, and the blow she had struck to our friendship.

It had never been my intention to hurt her, so I put my arms around her and told her that she was forgiven. But of course, being in a small, private room with an incredibly beautiful young female Sangheili has an effect on a man, and with her in my arms and her scent in my nose, well…

I told her, my voice choking, that I was very flattered, but I was very much her senior.

She told me that the boys from the local War Academy had not impressed her. She guessed I had had other mates in the past and she did not mind that notion, for she thought she would prefer someone who knew what he was doing. She told me that some of the other girls had spoken of awkwardness, discomfort, even pain between two novices attempting to mate for the first time.

I told her that I was not her social equal and she laughed and said saucily that she was not asking me to give her an egg, merely to introduce her to mating.

The longer I held her, the more I realized I would like to take her up on that offer. I threw out, desperately, that I was a soldier at war and I could not promise that I would be on leave again so soon, at the time of her graduation.

She slunk out of my arms and cuddled against my chest and whispered in my earbud that perhaps we should not wait then.

And I…

I…"


	14. Chapter 14: We All Got Secrets

Author's Note: Thanks for everyone's patience during my illness over the holidays.

Things to look forward to during the coming year: the conclusion of Mercenary Hearts (chapter 15), the conclusion of Blood Shadow, and Duels of Honour 2: Giving the Blade.

**Mercenary Hearts**

**Chapter the Fourteenth: We All Got Secrets**

Piro 'Kipaz shook his head, grimacing, gazing into the fire.

"You mated with her, didn't you?" Kya asked. "Right then and there."

Piro nodded miserably.

Kya snorted. "And you think I will condemn you for not going through the formality of waiting a month until she was of age? She was near enough to adulthood to know what she was doing, and she had a very valid point. Did you attend her graduation?"

Piro looked away and shook his head again.

"Then had you not acted, you would not have been her first mate, and clearly it was important to her." Kya looked at Piro out of narrowed eyes, not willing to voice the question on her mind.

Piro answered it anyway. "She spent her graduation night with another female—a girl whose intended mate had dumped her when he received an offer from a female he found more desirable." He sighed wistfully. "She commed me on the fleet afterwards to say she had expanded her horizons and could now fairly say she preferred me, so I ought not to waste either of our time with arguments about her inexperience and youth." Piro's eyes focused on some distant historical horizon. "We commed almost constantly in those days, and I realized that I was as in love with her as she was with me, and that I wished to give up all others and make her my wife."

Piro's expression darkened.

"Easier said than done—after all, her father was a kaidon, and determined to match his eldest daughter with a son of one of the surrounding keeps or towns to consolidate his political power base. As a former member of his guard, I had connections enough to ask him for an audience. I did not have connections enough to convince him to grant my request." Piro's eyes darkened. "I was told not to return to the 'Sraom keep, while Lela'ra's father spoke to his fellow kaidons to make arrangements for his daughter's first breeding season."

Kya made a sad sound deep in her throat, for she knew how that must have made him feel…to be stuck, helpless, while the woman he wanted was forced to mate with someone else.

"What Lela'ra's father did not realize were the depths of his daughter's desire to be my mate. She begged, borrowed and stole comm links and private time and continued to message me. For my part, I paid a Jackal a tidy sum to hack into the Sangheili BattleNet and reassign me to a unit based on Sanghelios. Over our communicators we conceived a desperate plan to run away together and take refuge in 'Kipaz with Rek'i."

Piro smiled now. "So you see, Kya, I have rather a fondness for light-fingered and devious females. Lela'ra insisted to her father and her hopeful mate that she wished to breed on the keep's beach, rather than in the traditional chamber. The male, who was also young, was willing to give her whatever she wished to please her, and her father agreed to accept the unusual request in exchange for his daughter's cooperation, for though she never spoke of me to him, I presume he sensed some of her distress when he told her that he would not let us marry. Anyway….the beach. As you know, I am a pilot, and so that night I "borrowed" a Banshee and parked it behind a dune." He said teasingly, "Have you ever flown two in a Banshee? It is a tight fit."

Kya guessed that it would be, but for all he was pretending to joke with her, his eyes were far away and his chuckle was hollow.

She decided not to ask outright what Piro was not telling her. She would circle around the issue, gathering information, first.

"Did they never guess that Lela'ra had run off with you?" Kya asked.

Piro's mandibles threatened to curl into a grin devoid of any humour. "They thought she ran off with the young warrior with whom she had the breeding appointment." The smile slipped from his face entirely, leaving Piro staring intently into the fire.

Kya blinked. Surely they could have just asked the warrior what had happened unless… "He…vanished as well?"

Piro nodded. "In time they assumed he'd gone rogue, headed off-planet somewhere. Joined up with pirates, that was the most popular rumour." The flames reflected in the old Sangheili's eyes.

Kya's throat clenched with a sudden premonition and in that moment she knew the truth of what Piro had done.

"That young warrior had done nothing wrong. His only sin was accepting a breeding appointment with the female I loved, a female who wanted nothing of him. For that sin, his body lies rotting in an unmarked grave."

Piro's head turned towards her and though he spoke softly, the words he spoke echoed in her mind like thunder.

"So, my little thief, tell me, could you deign to love a murderer?"

Kya sucked in her breath as she stared at Piro 'Kipaz.

This Sangheili …the male she loved, the father of her daughter…a murderer?

"You dueled him?" Kya murmured.

"No. He was a better soldier than I. I lay in wait for him and I shot him in the back of the head, as a coward would do."

"They never caught you?" Kya whispered.

Piro shook his head. "I covered my tracks well."

"Then your name is clear."

"Is that all that matters? That you were caught and I was not? Does that make me innocent, and you guilty?"

Kya shook her head; her words were coming out wrong. "That is not what I intended…I mean…" She waved her hands helplessly. "Were you not afraid of what might happen, if they caught you?"

Piro smiled sadly. "Of course I was afraid, but at that time I would have done anything, paid any price to be with Lela'ra."

"You could not stand there and let Lela'ra be bred against her will with a male she did not want." Kya snorted. "I have difficulty seeing the problem with that."

"Her proposed mate was not a rapist," Piro pointed out. "He was not like Toha 'Sumai, taking her for his own pleasure. He had no choice in the matter, any more than she did. All fertile, unshamed males are required by law to mate at least every other year."

"He could have left Lela'ra be," Kya argued. "Found a willing mate. Lela'ra had a mate she wanted—you."

Piro shook his head. "You and I both know that is not the way politics works on Sanghelios. Mating—bloodline propagation—is the way we seal alliances and amalgamate power."

"So, you are a killer."

'Kipaz looked her in the eye and did not deny it.

"And how many have you murdered since? Not in war, not in self defence…murdered for the desire of it?"

Piro blinked. "None."

"Then have you not changed your ways as I have?"

The older male's temper flared as he recognized his own argument being turned against him. "You cannot argue that I am an ex-murderer, Kya," he said, his voice becoming low and heated. "We both know my guilt still stands."

"As does mine," Kya retorted, "and I am willing to say that I, a repentant thief, love you, Piro 'Kipaz, whether you regret that act or not!" She folded her arms and let her hot-tempered words fly right out into his face. "I am an ill-tempered and very biased female who would be pleased to have a mate who would kill to defend me and my young at any cost. You may take that as you will, but I am not a nice person, Piro 'Kipaz, and I will not pretend to be."

"I think you are fine as you are, Kya 'Pomor," Piro murmured.

"Only fine?" she asked, arching an eyebrow ridge.

Piro chuckled weakly, helplessly. He did not know how to react to the way she accepted him, not blindly, not because she was naïve, but because she had evaluated him and found him worth her affection.

He could only bunt her with his muzzle and reply, "What I mean is, I am an old fool who is hopelessly in love with you."

Kya smiled smugly. "Which is how I like you, Piro 'Kipaz," she replied. She nuzzled him in return, and then laid her head on his shoulder again. "Tell me how it ended," Kya said.

Piro returned his attention to the fire and drew a deep breath. "I took Lela'ra to live with Rek'i in the foothills surrounding the 'Kipaz keep. We mated that night, and N'tho is the son of that union. He is named for Lela'ra's dearest brother, whom she had to leave behind when she fled the 'Sraom keep.

"Rek'i said…well…Rek'i explained it to me this way. He had no legal authority to go to my mother's home and buy me from her, but he did it anyway, for his hearts said it was right even if the law said it was not. For a similar reason he supported my relationship with Lela'ra.

"We could never marry properly, not without the consent of her father. We were never even properly bonded. We did not wish to draw the attention of the 'Kipaz kaidon to bond us, for fear he might someday speak to Lela'ra's father. We spoke private vows in Rek'i's living room, with my _da_ as our sole witness.

"Lela'ra and I had six years as consorts. It was a great change for her, living a rural lifestyle attached to a keep as small and poor as 'Kipaz, but she said she was happy. She and N'tho lived in Rek'i's home and I came to visit her whenever I could get away from my unit.

Lela'ra wanted more children, but I seemed to always be on duty elsewhere when she was in season and home when she was not, and as a result, N'tho celebrated his sixth birthday as an only child. Then…" Piro drew in a ragged breath. "I had requested leave to see N'tho on his birthday and as it turned out, Lela'ra was in season. We mated, and by the time I left, her stomach was swelling with an egg. I was so…proud." His voice broke. "I had no idea we would both be held to account for our sins."

"I know this," Kya murmured. She remembered Piro's absolute paranoia when she was laying eggs and she finally, finally understood it. "The egg was too large, and the laying of it killed her."

"And cracked the egg." His eyes welled up with tears. "Rek'i was as delicate as he could be with it but he could not hold it together long enough for our young to hatch. It was to have been…was to have been…twin daughters…"

Piro choked, the grief still raw after all these years, and Kya held him until he could speak again.

"I had another year with my son. N'tho tells me now that his memory faded much in the intervening years, until he forgot my given name and remembered me only as an uncle, and when we finally met again, he did not realize that Major Domo Piro 'Kipazee and his old uncle had been the same person. Of course, I did not see him often in that year, being as I was a serving soldier. Rek'i reared N'tho as he reared me, but then another curse fell upon our house.

"Just over a year after Lela'ra's death, Rek'i commed me to tell me the plague was very bad in the 'Kipaz lowlands that season. It had decimated the keep and spread out to the surrounding villages. The food stores were low from a drought the previous three years, and while I sent home food and money from my earnings, there was barely enough to support Rek'i and N'tho at the best of times, let alone when scarcity had driven up food prices in the 'Kipaz valley. I was afraid that if N'tho stayed in 'Kipaz, he would grow weak from insufficient food and fall to the plague as so many others had, including the kaidon and his family. Rek'i agreed, and so…so…." Piro swallowed, struggling not to cry, for the pain was still fresh in his mind.

"Rek'i took N'tho to his grandfather, the 'Sraom kaidon. He told Lela'ra's father that he had taken Lela'ra in five years ago. He said she'd been hungry and frightened and had young N'tho with her." Piro looked into the fire. "He edited me out of the story entirely. Rek'i said Lela'ra had never spoken of N'tho's father, nor of the male who sired the egg that had killed her," he said as he poked the fire with a stick. "I was never called to account for taking Lela'ra from the 'Sraoms, but neither was I able to see my son, not until he graduated War College, and I paid a Jackal hacker a king's ransom—all I owned, all I had saved for ten years—to ensure that N'tho was sent to my unit, the 812th."

Kya was listening silently, waiting to hear the whole story. Piro continued, "So the 'Sraoms took N'tho in, and Lela'ra's brothers took turns raising him. He might not have had the ideal family—he was shuttled between the brothers as their jobs demanded, and some of the 'Sraoms looked down on him for his unknown parentage, but I know that he was not abused, not until his damned grandfather turned his ship in battle and ran like the coward he was."

Piro took a deep breath and squeezed Kya's hand. "Do not ask me to be fair to that man. His cowardice brought down the Mark of Punishment on N'tho and all the others of his line. His failure is the cause of the torments N'tho has suffered, and I hate him for it, and always will. Yet Rek'i said the kaidon had tears in his eyes when he told him that Lela'ra had begged him not to tell her father where she was. He told Rek'i that he'd have gladly taken his daughter back but…" Piro snorted. "I do not want to believe it. If it is true, then I kept Lela'ra in hardship for nothing. If it is true, Lela'ra could have had better care, might have lived…" He squeezed his eyes shut, though he had long ago run out of tears. "If it is not true than I would have snapped the lying coward's neck or died in the attempt."

"It does not matter," Kya said quietly, "if it is true or not. It is history, and cannot be changed. You did what you thought best. You did what it took to give your lady a life with you…a life she chose of her own free will."

"I killed an innocent man and brought down a curse upon my house," Piro muttered. "Lela'ra died while laying, N'tho was taken from me, and in the months before the first Halo incident, Rek'i stopped returning my comms. There is a death certificate on the in his name," Piro explained, his voice shaking. "I fear for Shae and Lara, and the egg we have made, the children of a cursed father."

"You do not believe that," Kya chided.

Piro shrugged. "I have done a terrible thing, and deserve my punishment."

Kya retorted, "If the gods—and I am not convinced that gods exist—if the gods would punish Lela'ra, and Rek'i for your sins, then why should N'tho not pay for his grandfather's cowardice? If it is morally acceptable for the gods to kill Lela'ra and Rek'i for your crime, than surely Sangheili justice can hold N'tho accountable for his grandfather's deed."

Piro withdrew, shocked and insulted. "How dare you suggest that…" he began, but Kya held his gaze, refusing to back down, and then her meaning sank in.

The moment was an epiphany. All along, he had secretly believed that Lela'ra's fate was his fault. But if so…if the gods punished innocents in that manner…then why shouldn't Sangheili justice do the same?

Piro did not and could not believe that N'tho's suffering for his grandfather's sin was right or just or proper. His belief that he had cursed his family was therefore invalidated.

"Lela'ra's death could have happened to any female," Kya murmured. "Double-sized eggs are rare, deaths from laying them rarer still, but certainly not impossible, nor preventable. Are twins common in Kipaz?"

Piro shook his head no and said, his mouth dry, "But they are in the house of 'Sraom."

"Then it was Lela'ra's genetics that led to her death, and not any fault of yours. Nor did your deed bring the plague upon Kipaz. You said yourself that many in the keep died of it. Were they all to pay for your sin as well? Or is that the simple misfortune of building a keep in a swampy, hot lowland filled with disease-carrying insects?"

Piro sat stunned in wordless disbelief.

"Think of this, then," Kya continued. "Had Lela'ra known her fate, do you think she would have preferred to wed a stranger at her father's request?"

"No," Piro said hoarsely. "She told me often she would face anything to be with me."

"Then you should honour that choice," Kya said gently. She took Piro's stick and gave the embers a good strong poke. "If nothing else, Lela'ra had more choice than I ever did."

Piro sighed. "This tale has not dissuaded you, has it?"

Kya snorted as she tossed the stick into the dying fire. "You continue to assume that I am a nice girl. I am the sort of female who is flattered by the notion that her male would kill for her." She bowed her head and added softly, "Assuming you find me as worthy of a stain on your soul as your Lela'ra. I love you, as you are."

The old male spread his hands helplessly. "You do not know how close I was to pulling the trigger on that fool Khorr."

Kya turned to him with a smile. She seemed to interpret his gesture as an invitation, for she settled in his arms and laid her head on his shoulder.

Piro looked down at Kya in bewildered astonishment. His lady was cuddling against him, and his arm rose to encircle his shoulders as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

What could he do? He had given her every reason why they should not be a mated pair and she had declared them all irrelevant.

He had told her the worst of him and she loved him still.

"So," Piro said quietly. "What is to be done now? Do you expect me to surrender, and ask you to be my consort, or my bondmate?"

"No," Kya replied, her eyes shut. "I _expect _you to skirt the issue, and by the time we reach the base, nothing will have been resolved. We will return to sleeping in a common bed, nursing our young, and escaping to your room for our private pleasures. In two weeks, you will support me through the laying of this egg we have made tonight." She gripped his wrist, pushed his palm against her stomach and laid her own hand atop it. "In a month or two, I will point out to you that we already live as though were bonded mates, and I will call you a fool for your refusal to make it official." She cracked open one eye and smiled slyly at him.

Piro was taken aback for a moment…and then he laughed.

"Such a sharp tongue my lady has!" he exclaimed as he threw both arms around her and pulled her to him. His laugh was deep and hearty, for he knew she meant every word, and he loved her sarcastic sense of humour, her cutting analysis, and her sheer audacity. He licked her cheek and murmured in her earbud, "You had best be grateful that I am an old fool, and find you more endearing than insulting."

Kya twisted in his arms, staring up at him in wonder. "Does this mean I have won, and will truly receive what I desire?"

He nuzzled her tenderly. "Will you permit an old fool a little time to arrange matters properly?"

"Arrange?"

"Kya, my Kya." He stroked her flanks. "I do not want to rouse Usze from his sleep to oversee a bonding between…look at us. Your gown is wrinkled, and my armour is all over sand, we both smell of smoke, and I question that either of us would be alert enough to speak vows clearly. No, you deserve better than that. I think there should be time for a fine robe for you and polished armour for me, photographs and holographs, flowers, music…" He nuzzled her. "A proper bonding ceremony for my lady."

Kya tried to say something, but her voice failed her. She put her hand to her throat, shaking her head, stammering, muttering something about foolishness.

"I would do this for you," Piro said softly but firmly.

She threw her arms around him, still unable to speak, but Piro could guess what she meant.

She had not thought herself deserving of it. She had not thought it was even possible for her to have it.

In these matters, he was determined to prove her wrong.

"But," he said softly, "I see no reason we should not return to the base and let everyone know that a bonding is immanent, save…" He stroked her neck with his tongue. "Save that I do not have a bracelet to commemorate our bonding."

"Nor do I," Kya whispered. "I…I threw it out when…when…" She took his hand, placed it on the brand on her thigh.

Many young females bought bracelets and saved them to give to their future mates. Kya had discarded hers when she'd received the Mark of Punishment…when society had marked her as unfit to breed.

"Then we shall go shopping tomorrow," Piro murmured in her earbud. "Would you like that?"

Kya made a keening sound and nodded furiously, her head thrust into his neck.

He stroked her cheek and felt moisture on his fingers. He held her while she wept, making the soft, comforting hissing noise that soothed young Sangheili. He did not speak, for he knew his lady was proud and independent and would be ashamed of her tears.

When she finally drew away from him, she wiped her eyes and blinked furiously. "I must look a terrible sight," she said, her voice shaky.

"You are my lady and the mother of my young and you are beautiful."

Kya's eyes filled with tears again. This time, she did not bother to try to hide them.


	15. Chapter 15: Tribute

**Author's Note: **I'd like to thank everyone who's followed this series so far.

My next two projects will be completing "Blood Shadow" and the second story in "Duels of Honour," entitled "Giving the Blade."

However, due to personal health issues and professional obligations I need to take a few months off from Halo to catch up on a Mass Effect story I've been neglecting.

I hope to resume posting Halo stories in the late spring/early summer.

**Thanks for reading and thanks to all those who've taken the time to comment!**

I will see you then! In the meantime, enjoy the conclusion!

**Mercenary Hearts**

**Chapter the Fifteenth: Tribute**

_Four weeks later – August 2553_

Piro and Kya had given up their individual rooms in the barracks in favour of a married personnel apartment like Usze and N'tho's. There was a sitting room, a kitchen, a large bathroom, two bedrooms for the children when they grew older, and a master bedroom which Piro and Kya shared.

Kya tried to be tidy, but Piro had learned to live with the excess clutter the nurse brought with her—in truth, Kya was still a neater roommate than N'tho had ever been. Piro's collection of photos and holos adorned their bedroom wall, with additions for Shae and Lara. Several other nails were unoccupied, for, after all, they had an egg in the nursery. There was a large open space in the middle of the wall, where Piro intended to hang their wedding portrait.

_Tomorrow_, Piro thought, his hearts swelling with happiness. The Earth's single sun was rising, and it was his wedding day.

He had left the room early in the morning for a run into town. He was back now, with a bandage around his upper left arm, and he wondered if Kya were still asleep.

Piro looked into the master bedroom and froze in place as he noticed candles flickering in the corner.

Kya was kneeling before his ancestral altar. Two candles flanked a holograph of Lela'ra.

"We must make an understanding, you and I," Kya murmured.

Piro, holding his breath, slipped back outside.

In a smaller bedroom, Shae and Lara were beginning to stir from their night's rest. Piro cut chunks of meat from a slab in the refrigerator and warmed them in the microwave. When the girls awoke, Piro placed each on the couch and coached them in flailing the solid food. He hoped the girls would be eating unaided by the time the egg in the nursery hatched.

By the time the girls had flailed their meat down to scraps, Piro was feeling sleepy himself. He leaned back, only to find a pair of arms traveling down around his neck. Kya's head dipped down to lick his cheek.

"Where did you go this morning?" Kya murmured.

For a moment, Piro considered telling her. But it was possible that his fears might turn out to be unfounded, and if so, he did not want her to worry. "It is a surprise," he murmured. "You will see the answer in time."

Kya purred. "Are you happy, my dear one?"

Piro chuckled. "That is my question to ask you. It is my duty to please my lovely bride," he whispered, licking her earbud.

He did not want to pry into her encounter at the altar. Kya had never given any sign of interest, or faith, in any spiritual matters before, and he did not feel that he should pressure her to believe as he did, that the beloved dead still existed, and were watching over the living.

"I will be happier," Kya replied, "when I am married to my dear mate."

Piro took from her response that she and Lela'ra had come to a peace.

He glanced down at the girls. "We should dress and prepare ourselves now that they are fed," he said, "so that we might begin on time, and be done before they are hungry once more. I believe a Human wedding does not have a meal period for the feeding of young."

"I do not see why not," Kya retorted. "We have such fine young."

"That we do," Piro murmured. "And yet, I do not feel guilt to give them to N'tho and Usze…just for tonight."

Piro and Kya had arranged to combine the traditional Sangheili bonding with a Human-style marriage. A Sangheili marriage was out of the question: Kya, as a shamed one, was ineligible. Piro did not care. A Human marriage was good enough for his son and his husband, and it would be good enough for him.

Kya was radiant in a pearl-white sari that fell past her hocks, almost to her hooves. Usze stood beside her, taking the role that a Sangheili marriage would have given to her mother, uncle, or similar senior family member.

For a moment, Piro felt a bittersweet sensation as he wished that Rek'i could have been here to stand beside him. Instead, in the absence of any senior family members, Piro was accompanied by N'tho. Piro had to smile at the idea of a son approving the marriage of a father.

Yes, they were unorthodox here on Earth. Something in him rather liked the idea. After five years of mentoring N'tho in a culture where children did not know their fathers, he finally felt able to introduce himself as the young warrior's parent. And he had two beautiful daughters, one adopted, one biological, and an egg on the way, and the ability to marry a beautiful woman despite the shame in her past.

The ceremony was overseen by the same UNSC chaplain who had married Usze and N'tho. Piro found himself floating in a hazy cloud of joy as the wedding party was formally introduced to the assembly: Tesli and Shayya 'Taham and their ship's crew, the Marines, Kya's Human medical coworkers, some Human dignitaries, and a host of curious reporters. The Humans sang a song which sounded strange to Piro's ears, but he was not hard to please, today. He spoke his vows to Kya, and listened as she pledged herself to him. Soon his little family would be as complete in the eyes of the law as it was in his heart.

"If anyone knows why these two should not be wed," the chaplain said, "let them speak now, or forever hold their…."

"I object." The voice cut across Piro's consciousness like a slap.

Kya, tears glittering in her eyes, turned her head to see who had done this thing.

Standing in the back row, Khorr 'Refum loomed like an omen of destruction in his black armour.

Piro scowled, feeling rage rising in his hearts. He had suspected the other Sangheili might try a petty little stunt like this, but he had not been prepared for the black hatred he felt for Khorr at the sight of Kya's pain. It took every drop of his self-discipline not to seek out a weapon and blow the intruder's head off.

But he had learned that lesson. There was another way to deal with Khorr.

The chaplain frowned at Khorr standing in the back of the assembly. _Someone should have told her_, Kya thought bitterly, _that Sangheili marriages are more hotly contested than Human ones._

"On what grounds?" the chaplain said, her voice stern. She was clearly not impressed with Khorr.

"Kya 'Pomor bears a Mark of Punishment," Khorr proclaimed.

Kya winced as she heard various members of Tesli's crew gasp. She reminded herself that she was welcomed and accepted on Earth; why should she care what Tesli and his crew thought of her? And yet, it still hurt to spend the rest of her life paying for the foolish indiscretions of her youth.

"A shamed one cannot marry a noble warrior like Piro 'Kipaz," Khorr continued, probably for the benefit of the Humans present, since every Sangheili would already know this fact. "This is a central part of Sangheili law."

N'tho 'Sraom thrust his head forward in the traditional aggression stance and growled at Khorr. "This is bullshit," he snapped, angry enough to overlook the fact that Human profanities like _bullshit _had no place in a wedding. "Sangheili law doesn't let two males get married, so the chaplain married me and Usze under Human law. And guess what? Human law doesn't say _shit _about convicted criminals being forbidden to marry. So sit down, shut up, and fuck off!" N'tho folded his arms, having said his piece, but he continued to eye Khorr warily, ready if the other Sangheili wanted a fight. Kya took a measure of comfort in the fact that her mate's adult son felt strongly enough about his father's impending marriage to defend her in that manner.

Khorr gave Piro a fangy smile. "Did she tell you, son of 'Kipaz? Did she tell you she was a little thief?"

Kya hung her head in shame as her crime became public knowledge to all her Human friends. Khorr was a bastard and a coward. Rather than fighting Piro, and herself, in the orchard, he'd chosen to get his revenge by embarrassing her in public. Would Gita and Rashid still want to associate with her? Would Major Osstrander still want her to train as a doctor? And, though she knew Piro would marry her anyways, the fact that he did so would shame him as well.

"Ah," Piro retorted, his voice sardonic. "Now I see the difference between yourself and a Brute—you, at least, have the intelligence required to access personnel records on a computer."

"If you must go through with this mockery of a wedding ceremony," Khorr spat, "let us have the lovely _bride _display her Mark for all to see!"

It was forbidden for a Sangheili to refuse to reveal her Mark when called out to do so by a warrior. Kya's eyes spilled over with tears as she lifted her skirts to expose her branded inner left thigh to all assembled. She felt completely, utterly humiliated. She would even rather face Toha 'Sumai again than look at Piro's expression as he humbled himself to comfort, and to wed, a fallen female.

But when she looked up, Piro was smiling.

Kya blinked away her tears in astonishment. What was he planning?

"Is it time for this already?" Piro rumbled, and with no further preamble, he popped off his left shoulder armour. Kya barely had time to register that Piro's jumpsuit was torn and held together by rough stitches in a line where the armour had covered, when Piro seized the sleeve in his right hand and ripped it down.

A tattooed Mark of Punishment was inscribed on his left bicep.

Kya was still staring at it when Piro took her hand.

"So," Piro said smoothly, "it seems the lady Kya and I are well matched. Perhaps you'd better leave, Khorr. A _noble _Sangheili warrior of your stature surely does not belong at a gathering to join two Shamed Ones according to Human tradition."

Khorr, flabbergasted, stared at Usze's parents. "Tesli? Shayya? Surely you will not…"

"Piro and Kya are the parents of my stepson's sister," Tesli 'Taham retorted as he got to his feet. "That makes the two of them my family, Marks of Punishment or no. They are here on Earth with the permission of the Arbiter himself, and if he can accept them, than so can I. Leave this place, Khorr 'Refum, and relieve Shipmaster 'Konor on the _Abundant Plenty_. You can guard the ship tonight, knowing full well that should anything ill befall it, you will be held responsible, and knowing full well that you shall be aboard it when we leave this planet."

Shayya rose to stand beside him. "Are there any others who would prefer to guard the ship than attend this ceremony?"

Nobody volunteered.

Khorr, flabbergasted, turned around and walked away to the accompaniment of loud boos from Private Doyle.

The minister cleared her throat as Tesli and Shayya sat back down. "Are there any further objections?" she asked.

This time, merciful silence as Piro took Kya in his arms and lapped away her tears.

Kya closed her eyes, purring softly, hardly daring to believe she was about to become the wife of a man who would brand himself to be with her.

"I now pronounce you man and wife."

_Five weeks later_

Lara had hatched early, alone in the middle of the night. Shae had hatched on time, in front of an assembly of guests. The due date for Piro and Kya's latest child came and went and there was no sign of movement from the egg, though medical scans suggested the child within was alive. After a few days, the crowd in the nursery waned as the Marines and medics, and even N'tho and Usze, were forced to return to their duties.

Kya sat vigil over her egg, and Piro sat with her whenever he was not caring for his daughters. Finally, a week after the due date, Piro left Shae and Lara with N'tho and came to take Kya's hand. They looked at the egg in silence, neither one wanting to admit that the odds of its ever hatching were growing slimmer by the day, neither one wanting to abandon their child.

They were tired, from their nights of watching, and somewhere in the early hours before dawn they must have fallen asleep, leaning on one another's shoulders. When Piro finally startled awake as a sunbeam shone into his face, he found himself looking at a shattered shell and a baby Sangheili.

"Kya!" he whispered, gently shaking his wife into alertness.

Kya came awake slowly at first, slurring words he could not hear, but as soon as he pointed at the nest, she snapped to attention and busied herself with her young. Piro could see her lifting the child and nuzzling it, folding it in a blanket to keep it warm, all the while checking its breathing, its heartbeat, its limbs and mouth. The little one clung to her and pipped for food.

"Is it healthy?" he asked anxiously.

"I think so," Kya smiled, "and it's hungry."

While she gave the infant its first meal, Piro sent out comms to everyone he knew. The medical staff were the first to arrive, followed by Usze and N'tho carrying the girls, then the Marines.

Kya smiled up at them shyly. "We have a son," she announced.

_A son_. Piro's hearts swelled. Here, on Earth with him…a wife, two daughters, and two sons.

"Who's gonna name him?" N'tho asked.

Kya smiled secretively. "Ah, but he already has a name," she said.

Piro blinked. "I do not remember ever discussing who would name the child. Usze and N'tho have both had their turns; why not me?"

"Because," Kya said, handing him his son to hold, "what else could we possibly call him but…"

Piro accepted his son as she spoke, settling the boy into the crook of his arm. The little Sangheili blinked up at him. Piro noted with a frown that he still had some egg membrane on his face, and reached up with his thumb to wipe it away.

It did not move.

It was not membrane; it was a dark-coloured _spot _ringing the boy's right eye.

Piro's mandibles gaped as he pulled the blanket away from his son.

Spots. Swaths of blotches all over him.

Piro pulled his gaze to his mate, who was watching him with a mischievous expression.

"Rek'i," he whispered.

Kya's smile broadened, as if to congratulate him for guessing her secret.

Piro stared in awe at the child in his arms. In addition to the love he felt for all his children, this hatchling had provided a link to his own past. He had no idea if Rek'i 'Kipazee had been his biological father, or uncle, or cousin or what, but the fact that the hereditary spots had surfaced in this hatchling meant that he was either witnessing a cosmic coincidence—for dappled Sangheili were rare—or else proof that Rek'i had some kind of shared blood with Piro himself.

Piro would not have cared if Rek'i 'Kipazee were no relation. He had always called Rek'i 'Kipazee _da_, the Sangheili word for "beloved uncle." Blood or no blood, the Spot Man would always be his _da_.

And yet, to know that he had not been abandoned by his father's side of the family as he had been by his mother's meant something to him. Perhaps he was not cursed. Perhaps there really was nothing wrong with him. Perhaps he had every bit as much right to be happy as anyone else.

He still felt badly about killing that other young warrior, the one who was to have been Lela'ra's mate, but he would have felt no better about himself—perhaps worse—if he'd allowed her to be bred against her will. Once she'd been pregnant with that warrior's child, she would have stayed in the 'Sraom keep forever, rather than being parted from her young. She would not have wanted that, he was sure. And there was no guarantee she might not have died in laying just the same…perhaps even sooner.

Piro turned his head and saw Usze and N'tho together, their arms around one another's waists. Where would Usze be now, without N'tho?

Piro had to come to terms with his history. He could never make up for the innocent life he'd taken, but the act was done, and no amount of guilt could change it, or bring Lela'ra back to life, or force his mother to love him. The only thing in his power to do was to learn from his failings and go on.

And, he thought, looking at Kya, and Usze and N'tho, and Shae and Lara, and little Rek'i, and all their human friends, he would not be going on from here alone.

_*finis*_


End file.
